•f  •ffliiW 


LIBRARY     OF 


1885-1056 


I  NORTH  CAROLINA  STATE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 


S00943442  Q 


MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


WILLIAM   HAMILTON   GIBSON 


ILLUSTRATED   BY  THE  AUTHOR 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 

1898 


Copyright,  1897,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

All  rights  reserved. 


Page 

A  Familiar  Guest 3 

The  Cuckoos  and  the  Oi/tuntted  Cow-bird 2j 

Door-step  Neighbors 57 

A   Queer  Little  Family  on  the  Bittersweet Sj 

The  Welcomes  of  the  Floivers iO£ 

A  Honey-dew  Picnic 151 

A  Few  Native  Orchids  and  Their  Insect  Sponsors    .     .  iji 

The  Milkweed 227 

Index 2JQ 


Page 
WiUiani    HlXDlllton    Gibson Frontispiece 

hiitial.      The  Studio  Door j> 

The  Rose-bush  Episode g 

A  Corner  of  My   Table 12 

An  Animated  Brush 14 

A  Specimen  in    Three  Stages 16 

The  Studio   Table 18 

Initial 2j 

The  European  Ciickoo 24^ 

The  Yellow-billed  Cuckoo 26 

Browsing  Kine 2g 

A  Greedy  Foster-child j^. 

The  Yellow  Warbler ., 44 

A  Blighted  Home 46 

The  Normal  Nest  of  the  Yellow  Warbler ^7 

The  Yellow  Warbler  at  Home ^g 

A  Stispicious  Nest  of  the  Yellow  Warbler jo 

The  Nest  Separated j^ 

Initial j7 

The  Door-step  Arena,  with  its  Pitfalls 60 

Fishing  for  Tigers (5j 


VIU  LIST   OF   DESIGNS 

Page 

Tiger-beetle 68 

The  Spider  Victim yo 

Filling  the  Spider  s  Grave 7/ 

Black  Digger-zuasp "/j 

Black  Digger-wasp  and  His  Victim,  Shoiving  the  Egg  of 

the  Wasp  Attached 7j 

Protecting  the  Burrow  zuhile  Searching  for  Prey  ....  -jq 

The  '■'Cow-spit"  Mystery  Disclosed 81 

The   Tigers  Head,  fro?n  the  l^ictinis  Stand-point .     .     .     .'8^ 

Initial.     Brancli  of  the  Bittersweet 8j 

A  Bittersweet  Covey go 

Flushing  the  Game q2 

Specimen   Twig     . g^ 

Building  Froth-tent 100 

Butterflies  and  Flowers /oj 

A  Row  of  StameJis 106 

The  Parts  of  a  Flower log 

Historical   Series,  Showing  the  Progress   of  Discovery   of 

Flower  Fertilisation no 

The  Garden  Sage 120 

Cross-fertilization  of  the  Sage 121 

Elastic  Stamens.     Anthers  Inserted  in  their  Pockets  .     .     .  124 

Elastic  Stamens  of  Mountain-laurel /i>j 

Andromeda  Ligustrina 12J 

Fertilization  of  Andromeda 128 

The  Laurel ijo 

Cross-fertilization  of  the  Blue-flag iji 

Blue-flag IJ2 

Pogonia  and  Devil s-hit jjj 

Devils-bit /j^ 

Horse-balm.     Collinsonia ijj 

Cross-fertilization  of  the  Horse-balm  —  Flowers  in   Various 

Stages,  and  in  the  Order  of  their  Visitation  by  the  Bee  ij6 

The  Cone-flo%ver ijj 


LIST  OF  DESIGNS  ix 

Page 

Cone- flowery  Shoiuiug   Numerous   Florets,  Some  in   Pollen, 

Others  in  Stigmatic  Stage ijg 

Cross-fertilization  of  Cone-flower r^o 

T/ie  Fertilization  of  the  English  Arnm.     ist  Stage  .     .     .  141 
The  Fertilization  of  the  English  Arum.      2d,  jd,  4th,  and 

•^th  Stages 142 

Pogonia /^j 

Cross-fertilization 146 

A  Pine  Branch /j/ 

Initial iji 

The  Picnic /jp 

Tail-piece i6y 

Habenaria  Orbiculata lyi 

Arethusa  Bulbosa lyy 

The  Botanical  Distribution  of  an  Ordinary  Flower  and  of 

the  Orchid tS2 

The  "  Column  "  in  Various  Orchids r8j 

The  Result  of  the  Bees  Visit 184 

m 

Cross-fertilization  of  Arethusa 188 

Habenaria  Orbiculata.     A  Single  Floiver  Enlarged   .     .     .  igo 

Orchis  Spectabilis igi 

Cross-fertilization  of  H.  Orbiculata  {Sphinx-moth)      ,     .     .  igj 

The  Flower  arid  Column  of  Orchis  Spectabilis,  Enlarged   .  /gj 

Orchis  Spectabilis /gj 

Position    of  Pollen    of   Orchis    Spectabilis    Withdrawn    on 


Pencil 


^97 


The  Cross-fertilization  of  Orchis  Spectabilis igy 

The  Purple-fringed  Orchid igg 

The  Ragged  Orchid  {Front  Section) '.     .  200 

The  Ragged  Orchid  {Profile  Section) 202 

The  Ragged  Orchid  {H.  Lacera)  and  the  Butterfly's  Tongue. 

Cross-fertilization 20J 

The  Yello7u  Orchid  {H.  Flava) 204 

The  Ragged  Orchid  {H.  Lacera) 20^5 


X  LIST   OF   DESIGNS 

Page 

Cypi'ipediuin  Acaule 207 

Moccasin-flower  {C.  Acaule) 20S 

The  Bee  Imprisoned  in  the  Lips  of  Cypripedium   ....  210 

Moccasin  flower.     Bee  Sipping  Nectar 211 

The  Bee  Passing  Beneath  the  Stigma 2ij 

A  Bee  Receiving  Pollen-plaster  on  His   Thorax      ....  214 

Rattlesnake-Plantain — the  Young  and  the  Old 21  j 

Cross  -  fertilization  of  the  Rattlesnake-Plantain.      Side  Sec- 
tions     216 

Cross -fertilisation    of   the    Rattlesnake  -  Plantain.      Front 

View 21J 

The  Tongue  of  a  Bumblebee 218 

Goodyera,  or  Periajnium  Pubescens 221 

Milkweed  Captives 2ji 

The  Polle7i  Masses  and  the  Fissure 2j2 

The  Tragedy  of  the  Bees 2j^ 

A  Moth  Caught  by  the   Tongue  in  Dogbane 2jj 


A  FAMILIAR  GUEST 


uwilm  GueM 


'OLITUDE!  Where  under  trees  and 
sky  shall  you  find  it  ?  The  more 
solitary  the  recluse  and  the  more  confirmed  and 
grounded  his  seclusion,  the  wider  and  more  fa- 
miliar becomes  the  circle  of  his  social  environ- 
ment, until    at   length,  like   a  very   dryad  of  old, 


4  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

the   birds    build    and    singr    in   his   branches   and 

O 

the  "wee  wild  beasties  "  nest  in  his  pockets.  If 
he  fails  to  be  aware  of  the  fact,  more's  the  pity. 
His  desolation  is  within,  not  without,  in  spite  of, 
not  because  of,  his  surroundings. 

Here  in  my  country  studio — not  a  hermitage, 
'tis  true,  but  secluded  among  trees,  some  distance 
isolated  from  my  own  home  and  out  of  sight  of 
any  other — what  company  !  What  occasional  "  tu- 
multuous privacy  "  is  mine !  I  have  frequently 
been  obliged  to  step  out  upon  the  porch  and  re- 
quest a  modulation  of  hilarity  and  a  more  cour- 
teous respect  for  my  hospitality.  But  this  is 
evidently  entirely  a  matter  of  point  of  view, 
and,  judging  from  the  effects  of  my  protests  at. 
such  times,  my  assumed  superior  air  of  conde- 
scension is  apparently  construed  as  a  huge  joke. 
If  the  resultant  rejoinder  of  wild  volapiAk  and 
expressive  pantomime  has  any  significance,  it  is 
plain  that  I  am  desired  to  understand  that  my 
exact  status  is  that  of  a  squatter  on  contested 
territory. 

There  are  those  snickering  squirrels,  for  in- 
stance!  At  this  moment  two  of  them  are  having 
a  rollicking  game  of  tag  on  the  shingled  roof — a 
pandemonium  of  scrambling,  scratching,  squeal- 
ing, and  growling  —  ever   and    anon    clambering 


A   FAMILIAR   GUEST  5 

down  at  the  eaves  to  the  top  of  a  bHiid  and  peep- 
ing' in  at  the  window  to  see  how  I  Hke  it. 

A  woodchuck  is  perambulating  my  porch — he 
was  a  moment  ago — presumably  in  renewed  quest 
of  that  favorite  pabulum  more  delectable  than 
rowen  clover,  the  splintered  cribbings  from  the 
legs  of  a  certain  pine  bench,  which,  up  to  date,  he 
has  lowered  about  three  inches  —  a  process  in 
which  he  has  considered  average  rather  than 
symmetry,  or  the  comfort  of  the  too  trusting  vis- 
itor who  happens  to  be  unaware  of  his  carpentry. 

The  drone  of  bees  and  the  carol  of  birds  are 
naturally  an  incessant  accompaniment  to  my  toil 
— at  least,  in  these  spring  and  summer  months. 
The  tall,  straight  flue  of  the  chimney,  like  the 
deep  diapason  of  an  organ,  is  softly  murmurous 
with  the  flurry  of  the  swifts  in  their  afternoon  or 
vesper  flight.  There  is  a  robin's  nest  close  by 
one  window,  a  vireo's  nest  on  a  forked  dogwood 
within  touch  of  the  porch,  and  continual  remind- 
ers of  similar  snuggeries  of  indigo-bird,  chat,  and 
oriole  within  close  limits,  to  say  nothing  of  an 
ants'  nest  not  far  off,  whose  proximity  is  soon 
manifest  as  you  sit  in  the  grass — and  immediate- 
ly get  up  again. 

Fancy  a  wild  fox  for  a  daily  entertainment! 
For  several  days  in  succession  last  year  I  spent  a 


6  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

half-hour  observing  his  frisky  gambols  on  the  hill- 
side across  the  dingle  below  my  porch,  as  he 
jumped  apparently  for  mice  in  the  sloping  ro wen- 
field.  How  quickly  he  responded  to  my  slightest 
interruption  of  voice  or  footfall,  running  to  the 
cover  of  the  alders  ! 

The  little  red-headed  chippy,  the  most  familiar 
and  sociable  of  our  birds,  of  course  pays  me  his 
frequent  visit,  hopping  in  at  the  door  and  picking 
up  I  don't  know  what  upon  the  floor.  A  barn- 
swallow  occasionally  darts  in  through  the  open 
window  and  out  again  at  the  door,  as  though  for 
very  sport,  only  a  few  days  since  skimming  be- 
neath my  nose,  while  its  wings  fairly  tipped  the 
pen  with  which  I  was  writing.  The  chipmonk' 
has  long  made  himself  at  home,  and  his  scratch- 
ing footsteps  on  my  door -sill,  or  even  in  my 
closet,  is  a  not  uncommon  episode.  Now  and 
then  through  the  day  I  hear  a  soft  pat-pat  on  the 
hard-wood  floor,  at  intervals  of  a  few  seconds,  and' 
realize  that  my  pet  toad,  which  has  voluntarily 
taken  up  its  abode  in  an  old  bowl  on  the  closet 
floor,  is  taking  his  afternoon  outing,  and  with  his 
always  seemingly  inconsistent  lightning  tongue  is 
picking  up  his  casual  flies  at  three  inches  sight 
around  the  base-board. 

A  mouse,  I  see,  has  heaped  a  neat  little  pile  of 


A   FAMILIAR   GUEST  7 

seeds  upon  the  top  of  the  wainscot  near  by — 
cherry  pits,  polygonum,  and  ragweed  seeds,  and 
others,  including  some  small  oak-galls,  which  I 
find  have  been  abstracted  from  a  box  of  speci- 
mens which  I  had  stored  in  the  closet  for  safe- 
keeping. I  wonder  if  it  is  the  same  little  fellow 
that  built  its  nest  in  an  old  shoe  in  the  same 
closet  last  year,  and,  among  other  mischief,  re- 
moved the  white  grub  in  a  similar  lot  of  speci- 
men galls  which  I  also  missed,  and  subsequently 
found  in  the  shoe  and  scattered  on  the  closet 
floor  ? 

I  have  mentioned  the  murmur  of  the  bees,  but 
the  incessant  buzzing  of  flies  and  wasps  is  an 
equally  prominent  sound.  Then  there  is  the  oc- 
casional sortie  of  the  dragon-fly,  making  his 
gauzy,  skimming  circuit  about  the  room,  or  sug- 
gestively bobbing  around  against  wall  or  ceiling; 
and  that  occasional  audible  episode  of  the  stifled, 
expiring  buzz  of  a  fly,  which  is  too  plainly  in  the 
toils  of  Arachne  up  yonder!  For  in  one  corner 
of  my  room  I  boast  of  a  prize  dusty  "  cobweb,"  as 
yet  spared  from  the  household  broom,  a  gossamer 
arena  of  two  years'  standing,  which  makes  a 
dense  span  of  a  length  of  about  two  feet  from  a 
clump  of  dried  hydrangea  blossoms  to  the  sill  of 
a   transom  -  window,  and   which,  of  course,  some- 


8  MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

where  in  its  dusty  spread,  tapers  off  into  a  dark 
tunnel,  where  lurks  the  eight-eyed  schemer,  "  o  er- 
looking  all  his  waving  snares  around." 

Sooner  or  later,  it  would  seem,  every  too  con- 
stant buzzino^  visitor  encroaches  on  its  domain, 
and  is  drawn  to  its  silken  vortex,  and  is  eventual- 
ly shed  below  as  a  clean  dried  specimen ;  for  this 
is  an  agalena  spider,  which  dispenses  with  the 
winding-sheet  of  the  field  species  —  epeira  and 
argiope.  Last  week  a  big  bumble-bee -like  fly 
paid  me  a  visit  and  suddenly  disappeared.  To- 
day I  find  him  dried  and  ready  for  the  insect-pin 
and  the  cabinet  on  the  window-sill  beneath  the 
web,  which  affords  at  all  times  its  liberal  ento- 
mological assortment — Coleoptera,  Hymenoptera,  ^ 
Diptera,  and  Lepidoptera.  Many  are  the  rare 
specimens  which  I  have  picked  from  these  char- 
nel  remnants  of  my  spider  net. 

Ah,  hark  !  The  talking  "  robber -fly  "  (^jz'/z^^), 
with  his  nasal,  twangy  buzz  !  "  Waioiu  !  Wha-a-ar 
are  ye  ?"  he  seems  to  say,  and  with  a  suggestive 
onslaught  against  the  window-pane,  which  beto- 
kens his  satisfied  quest,  is  out  again  at  the  win- 
dow with  a  bluebottle-fly  in  the  clutch  of  his  pow- 
erful legs,  or  perhaps  impaled  on  his  horny  beak. 

Solitude !  Not  here.  Amid  such  continual 
distraction    and    entertainment  concentration    on 


A   FAMILIAR   GUEST  g 

the  immediate  task  in  hand  is  not  always  of  easy 
accompHshment. 

Last  week,  after  a  somewhat  distracted  morn- 
ing with  some  queer  beguiling  little  harlequins  on 
the   bittersweet-vine  about  my  porch,  of  which   I 
have    previously    writ- 
ten, I   had  finally  set-  ^^^4p 
tied  down  to  my  work, 
and    was    engaged    in 


# 


-'^^ 


A^ 


'-SSTj*?. 


47^^-1it-\.'J?'' 


putting  the  fin- 
ishing touches 
upon  a  long-de- 
layed drawing,  when  a  new 
visitor  claimed  my  attention 
—  a  small  hornet,  which 
alights  upon  the  window- 
sill  within  half  a  yard  from  my  face.  To  be  sure, 
she  was  no  stranger  here  at  my  studio — even  now 
there  are  two  of  her  yonder  beneath  the  spider- 
nest —  and  was,  moreover,  an  old  friend,  whose 
ways  were  perfectly  familiar  to  me ;  but  this  time 
the   insect   engaged   my   particular   attention    be- 


lO  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

cause  it  was  not  alone,  being  accompanied  b}^  a 
green  caterpillar  bigger  than  herself,  which  she 
held  beneath  her  body  as  she  travelled  along  on 
the  window-sill  so  near  my  face.  "So,  so!  my 
little  wren  -  wasp,  you  have  found  a  satisfactory 
cranny  at  last,  and  have  made  yourself  at  home. 
I  have  seen  you  prying  about  here  for  a  week 
and  wondered  where  you  would  take  up  your 
abode." 

The  insect  now  reaches  the  edge  of  the  sill, 
and,  taking  a  fresh  grip  on  her  burden,  starts  off 
in  a  bee-line  across  ni}?^  drawing-board  and  tow- 
ards the  open  door,  and  disappears.  Wondering 
what  her  whimsical  destination  might  be,  my  eye 
involuntarily  began  to  wander  about  the  room  in 
quest  of  nail-holes  or  other  available  similar  cran- 
nies, but  without  reward,  and  I  had  fairly  settled 
back  to  my  work  and  forgotten  the  incident,  when 
the  same  visitor,  or  another  just  like  her,  again 
appeared,  this  time  clearing  the  window-sill  in  her 
flight,  and  landing  directly  upon  my  drawdng- 
board,  across  which  she  sped,  half  creeping,  half 
in  flight,  and  tugging  her  green  caterpillar  as  be- 
fore—  lono-er  than  herself  —  which  she  held  be- 
neath  her  body. 

"This  time  I  shall  learn  your  secret,"  I  thought. 
"  Two  such  challenges  as  this  are  not  to  be  ig- 


A    FAMILIAR    GUEST  II 

nored."  So  I  concluded  this  time  to  observe 
her  progress  carefully.  In  a  moment  she  had 
reached  the  right-hand  edge  of  my  easel -board, 
from  which  she  made  a  short  flight,  and  settled 
upon  a  large  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  lit- 
tered with  its  characteristic  chaos  of  profession- 
al paraphernalia — brushes,  paints,  dishes,  bottles, 
color-boxes,  and  cloths  —  among  which  she  disap- 
peared. It  was  a  hopeless  task  to  disclose  her,  so 
I  waited  patiently  to  observe  the  spot  from  which 
she  would  emerge,  assuming  that  this,  like  the 
window-sill  and  my  easel,  was  a  mere  way-station 
on  her  homeward  travels.  But  she  failed  to  ap- 
pear, while  I  busied  my  wits  in  trying  to  recall 
which  particular  item  in  the  collection  had  a  hole 
in  it.  Yes,  there  was  a  spool  among  other  odds 
and  ends  in  a  Japanese  boat-basket.  That  must 
be  it !  But  on  examination  the  paper  still  cov- 
ered both  ends,  and  I  was  again  at  a  loss.  What, 
then,  can  be  the  attraction  on  my  table  1  My 
wondering  curiosity  was  immediately  satisfied,  for 
as  I  turned  back  to  the  board  and  resumed  my 
work  I  soon  discovered  another  wasp,  with  its 
caterpillar  freight,  on  the  drawing-board.  After 
a  moment's  pause  she  made  a  quiet  short  flight 
towards  the  table,  and  what  was  my  astonishment 
to  observe  her  alight  directly  upon  the  tip  of  the 


12 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


very  brush    which    I   held   in   my   hand,  which,  I 
now   noted   for  the   first   time,  had   a  hole  in  its 


end  !      In  another  moment  she  disappeared  within 
the  cavity,  tugging  the  caterpillar  after  her ! 

My  bamboo   brushes !      I   had    not   thought   of 


A    FAMILIAR    GUEST  I^ 

them  !  By  mere  chance  a  few  years  since  I  hap- 
pened upon  some  of  these  bamboo  brushes  in  a 
Japanese  shop — large,  long-handled  brushes,  with 
pure  white  hair  nicely  stiffened  to  a  tapering 
point,  which  was  neatly  protected  with  a  sheath- 
ing" cover  of  bamboo.  A  number  of  them  were 
at  my  elbow,  a  few  inches  distant,  in  a  glass  of 
water,  and  on  the  table  by  the  vase  beyond  were  a 
dozen  or  so  in  a  scattered  bundle. 

Normally  each  of  these  brushes  is  closed  at  the 
end  by  the  natural  pith  of  the  bamboo.  I  now 
find  them  all  either  open  or  otherwise  tampered 
with,  and  the  surrounding  surface  of  the  table  lit- 
tered with  tiny  balls,  apparently  of  sawdust.  I 
picked  up  one  of  the  nearest  brushes,  and  upon 
inverting  it  and  giving  it  a  slight  tap,  a  tiny  green 
worm  fell  out  of  the  opening.  From  the  next 
one  I  managed  to  shake  out  seven  of  the  caterpil- 
lars, while  the  third  had  passed  beyond  this  stage, 
the  aperture  having  been  carefully  plugged  with  a 
mud  cork,  which  was  even  now  moist.  Two  or 
three  others  were  in  the  same  plugged  condition, 
and  investigation  showed  that  no  single  brush 
had  escaped  similar  tampering  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent.  One  brush  had  apparently  not  given  en- 
tire satisfaction,  for  the  plug  had  been  removed, 
and  the  caterpillars,  eight  or  ten  in  number,  were 


H 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


scattered  about  the  opening.  But  the  dissatisfac- 
tion probably  lay  with  one  of  these  caterpillars 
rather  than  with  the  maternal  wasp,  who  had  ap- 
parently failed  in  the  full  dose  of  anaesthetic,  for 

one  of  her  victims 
which  I  observed 
was  quite  lively, 
and  had  probably 
forced  out  the  soft 
plug,  and  in  his 
squirming  had 
ousted  his  luckless 
companions. 

The  caterpillars 
were  all  of  the 
same  kind,  though 
varvino^  in  size, 
their  length  being 
from  one -half  to 
three  -  quarters  of 
an  inch.  To  all  appearances  they  were  dead,  but 
more  careful  observation  revealed  sisfns  of  slio^ht 

o  o 

vitality.  Recognizing  the  species  as  one  which  I 
had  long  known,  from  its  larva  to  its  moth,  it  was 
not  diflBcult  to  understand  how  my  brushes  might 
thus  have  been  expeditiously  packed  with  them. 
Not  far  from  my  studio  door  is  a  small  thicket  of 


A   FAMILIAR   (JUEST  1 5 

wild  rose,  which  should  alone  be  sufficient  to  ac- 
count for  all  those  victimized  caterpillars.  This 
species  is  a  regular  dependent  on  the  rose,  dwelling 
within  its  cocoon-like  canopy  of  leaves,  which  are 
drawn  together  with  a  few  silken  webs,  and  in 
which  it  is  commonly  concealed  by  day.  A  little 
persuasion  upon  either  end  of  its  leafy  case,  how- 
ever, soon  brings  the  little  tenant  to  view  as  he 
wriggles  out,  backward  or  forward,  as  the  case 
may  be,  and  in  a  twinkling,  spider-like,  hangs  sus- 
pended by  a  web,  which  never  fails  him  even  in 
the  most  sudden  emergency. 

I  can  readily  fancy  the  tiny  hornet  making  a 
commotion  at  one  end  of  this  leafy  domicile  and 
the  next  instant  catching  the  evicted  caterpillar 
"  on  a  fly  "  at  the  other.  Grasping  her  prey  with 
her  legs  and  jaws,  in  another  moment  the  wrig- 
gling body  is  passive  in  her  grasp,  subdued  by 
the  potent  anesthetic  of  her  sting — a  hypodermic 
injection  which  instantly  produces  the  semblance 
of  death  in  its  insect  victim,  reducing  all  the  vital 
functions  to  the  point  of  dissolution,  and  then 
holds  them  suspended  —  literally  prolongs  life,  it 
would  sometimes  seem,  even  beyond  its  normal 
duration — by  a  process  which  I  might  call  ductile 
equation.  This  chemical  resource  is  common  to 
all    the  hornets,  whether  their  victims   be   grass- 


i6 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


hoppers,  spiders,  cicadae,  or  caterpillars.  In  a  con- 
dition of  helpless  stupor  they  are  lugged  off  to 
the  respective  dens  provided  for  them,  and  then, 
hermetically  sealed  on  storage,  are  preserved  as 
fresh  living  food  for  the  young  hornet  larva, 
which  is  left  in  charge  of  them,  and  has  a  place 
waiting  for  them  all.     The  developments  within 


my  brush-handles  may  serve  as  a  commentary  on 
the  ways  and  transformations  of  the  average 
hornet. 

One  after  another  of  the  little  green  caterpillars 
is  packed  into  the  bamboo  cell,  which  is  about  an 
inch  deep,  and  plugged  with  mud  at  the  base. 
From  seven  to  ten  of  the  victims  are  thus  stored, 
after  which  the  little  wasp  deposits  an  egg  among 
them,  and  seals  the  doorway  with  a  pellet  of  mud. 
The  young  larva,  which  soon  hatches  from  this 
egg,  finds   itself   in   a   land  of  plenty,  surrounded 


A    FAMILIAR    GUEST  1 7 

with  living  food,  and,  being  born  hungry,  he  loses 
no  time  in  making  a  meal  from  the  nearest  vic- 
tim. One  after  another  of  the  caterpillars  is  de- 
voured, until  his  larder,  nicely  calculated  to  carry 
him  to  his  full  growth,  is  exhausted.  Thus  the 
first  stage  is  passed.  The  second  stage  is  entered 
into  within  a  few  hours,  and  is  passed  within  a 
silken  cocoon,  with  which  the  white  grub  now 
surrounds  itself,  and  with  which,  transformed  to  a 
pupa,  it  bides  its  time  for  about  three  weeks,  as  I 
now  recall,  when — third  stage — out  pops  the  mud 
cork,  and  the  perfect  wasp  appears  at  the  opening 
of  the  cell.  I  have  shown  sections  of  one  of  my 
brushes  in  the  three  stages. 

This  interesting  little  hornet  is  a  common  sum- 
mer species,  known  as  the  solitary  hornet — one  of 
them — Odyneriis  Jlavipes.  The  insect  is  about  a 
half- inch  in  length,  and  to  the  careless  observer 
might  suggest  a  yellow-jacket,  though  the  yellow 
is  here  confined  to  two  triangular  spots  on  the 
front  of  the  thorax  and  three  bands  upon  the  ab- 
domen. 

Like  the  wren  among  birds,  it  is  fond  of  build- 
ing in  holes,  and  will  generally  obtain  them  ready- 
made  if  possible.  Burroughs  has  said  of  the 
wren  that  it  "  will  build  in  anything  that  has  a 
hole  in  it,  from  an  old  boot  to  a  bombshell."      In 


1 8  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

similar  whim  our  little  solitary  hornet  has  been 
known  to  favor  nail-holes,  hollow  reeds,  straws,  the 
barrels  of  a  pistol,  holes  in  kegs,  worm -holes  in 
wood,  and  spools,  to  which  we  may  now  add  bam- 
boo brushes. 

Ovid  declared  and  the  ancient  Greeks  believed 
that  hornets  were  the  direct  progeny  of  the  snort- 
ing war-horse.     The  phrase  "mad  as  a  hornet" 


A   FAMILIAR   GUEST  ig 

has  become  a  proverb.  Think,  then,  of  a  brush 
loaded  and  tipped  with  this  martial  spirit  of 
Vespa,  this  cavorting  afflatus,  this  testy  animus ! 
There  is  more  than  one  pessimistic  "goose-quill,'' 
of  course,  "  mightier  than  the  sword,"  which,  it 
occurs  to  me  in  my  now  charitable  mood,  mieht 
have  been  thus  surreptitiously  voudooed  by  the 
war-like  hornet,  and  the  plug  never  removed. 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND    THE  OUT- 
I4^ITTED   COIV-BIRD 


Che  Cuckoo3 


>;•' 


HOW  has  that  "blessed 
bird"  and  "sweet  messenger 
of  spring,"  the  "cuckoo,"  im- 
posed upon  the  poetic  sensi- 
biUties  of  its  native  land ! 
And  what  is  this  cuckoo  which  has  thus  be- 
witched all  the  poets  ?  What  is  the  personality 
behind  that  "  wandering  voice  ?"  What  the  dis- 
tinguishing trait  which  has  made  this  wily  at- 
tendant on  the  spring  notorious  from  the  times  of 
Aristotle  and  Pliny  ?  Think  of  "  following  the 
cuckoo,"  as  Logan  longed  to  do,  in  its  "  annual 
visit  around  the  globe,"  a  voluntary  witness  and 
accessory  to  the  blighting  curse  of  its  vagrant, 
almost  unnatural  life !  No,  my  indiscriminate 
bards ;  on  this  occasion  we  must  part  company. 
I   cannot  "  follow  "  your  cuckoo  —  except  with  a 


24 


MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


gun,  forsooth — nor  welcome  your  "  darling  of  the 
spring,"  even  though  he  were  never  so  captivating 


as  a  songster. 


The  song  and  the  singer  are  here  identical  and 


\ 


inseparable,   to    .    ^ 
my  prosaic  and 
rational  senses; 
for     does     not 
that  "blithe  new- 
comer," as  Ten- 
nyson   says,  "  tell   his    name   to    all    the   hills " — 
"  Cuckoo !    Ctickoo  !" 

The  poet  of  romance  is  prompted  to  draw  on 
his  imagination  for  his  facts,  but  the  poet  of  nat- 
ure must  first  of  all  be  true,  and  incidentally  as 
beautiful  and  good  as  may  be ;  and  a  half-truth  or 
a  truth  with  a  reservation  may  be  as  dangerous 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BHUJ      25 

as  falsehood.  The  poet  who  should  so  paint  the 
velvety  beauty  of  a  rattlesnake  as  to  make  you 
long  to  coddle  it  would  hardly  be  considered  a 
safe  character  to  be  at  large.  Likewise  an  ode 
to  the  nettle,  or  to  the  autumn  splendor  of  the 
poison -sumac,  which  ignored  its  venom  would 
scarcely  be  a  wise  botanical  guide  for  indiscrimi- 
nate circulation  among  the  innocents.  Think, 
then,  of  a  poetic  eulogium  on  a  bird  of  which  the 
observant  Gilbert  could  have  written  : 

"  This  proceeding  of  the  cuckoo,  of  dropping  its 
eggs  as  it  were  by  chance,  is  such  a  monstrous 
outrage  on  maternal  affection,  one  of  the  first 
great  dictates  of  nature,  and  such  a  violence  on 
instinct,  that  had  it  only  been  related  of  a  bird  in 
the  Brazils  or  Peru,  it  would  never  have  merited 
our  belief.  .  .  .  She  is  hardened  against  her  young 
ones  as  though  they  were  not  hers.  .  .  .  '  Because 
God  hath  deprived  her  of  wisdom,  neither  hath 
He  imparted  to  her  understanding.' " 

America  is  spared  the  infliction  of  this  notori- 
ous "  cuckoo."  Its  nearest  congeners,  our  yellow- 
billed  and  black-billed  cuckoos,  while  sugorestine 
their  foreign  ally  in  shape  and  somewhat  in  song, 
have  mended  their  ways,  and  though  it  is  true 
they  make  a  bad  mess  of  it,  they  at  least  try  to 
build  their  own   nest,  and  rear  their  own  young 


26 


MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


with   tender  solicitude.     The   nest   is   usually  so 
sparse    and    flimsy    an    affair    that   you    can    see 
through  its  coarse  mesh  of  sticks  from  below,  the 
fledglings  lying  as  on  a  grid- 
iron  or   toaster ;    and   it  is, 
moreover,    occasionally     so 
much  higher  in  the 


centre     than 
at   the   sides 
that  the  chicks  tumble 
out  of  bed  and  perish. 
Still,  it  is  a  beginning 
in  the  right  direction. 
Yes,  it    would    ap- 
pear that  our  American  cuckoo  is  endeavoring  to 
make  amends  for  the  sins  of  its  ancestors ;    but. 


THE  CUCKOOS   AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-IURD      2/ 

what  is  less  to  its  credit,  it  has  apparently  found  a 
scapegoat,  to  which  it  would  ever  appear  anxious 
to  call  our  attention,  as  it  stammers  forth,  in  ac- 
cents of  warning,  "  c,  c,  cow,  cow,  cow  !  cowow, 
cowow  !"  It  never  gets  any  further  than  this ; 
but  doubtless  in  due  process  of  vocal  evolution 
we  shall  yet  hear  the  "bunting,"  or  "blackbird," 
which  is  evidently  what  he  is  trying  to  say. 

Owing  to  the  onomatopoetic  quality  of  the 
"  kow,  kow,  kow !"  of  the  bird,  it  is  known  in  some 
sections  as  the  "  kow-bird,"  and  is  thus  confounded 
with  the  real  cow-bird,  and  gets  the  credit  of  her 
mischief,  even  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country, 
under  the  correct  name  of  "  cuckoo,"  it  bears  the 
odium  of  its  foreign  relative. 

For  though  we  have  no  disreputable  cuckoo, 
ornithologically  speaking,  let  us  not  congratulate 
ourselves  too  hastily.  We  have  his  counterpart 
in  a  black  sheep  of  featherdom  which  vies  with 
his  European  rival  in  deeds  of  cunning  and  cru- 
elty, and  which  has  not  even  a  song  to  recom- 
mend him  —  no  vocal  accomplishment  which  by 
the  greatest  of  license  could  prompt  a  poet  to 
exclaim, 

"  I  hear  thee  and  rejoice," 

without  having  his  sanity  called  in  question. 

The  cow-blackbird,  it  is  true,  executes  a  certain 


28  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

guttural  performance  with  its  throat — though  ap- 
parently emanating  from  a  gastric  source — which 
some  ornithologists  dignify  by  the  name  of  "song." 
But  it  is  safe  to  affirm  that  with  this  vocal  re- 
source alone  to  recommend  him  he  or  his  kind 
would  scarcely  have  been  known  to  fame.  The 
bird  has  yet  another  lay,  however,  which  has 
made  it  notorious.  Where  is  the  nest  of  song- 
sparrow,  or  Maryland  yellow-throat,  or  yellow  war- 
bler, or  chippy,  that  is  safe  from  the  curse  of  the 
cow-bird's  blighting  visit  ? 

And  yet  how  few  of  us  have  ever  seen  the  bird 
to  recognize  it,  unless  perchance  in  the  occasional 
flock  clusterino-  about  the  noses  and  feet  of  brows- 
ing  kine  and  sheep,  or  perhaps  perched  upon 
their  backs,  the  glossy  black  plumage  of  the 
males  orlisteninor  with  iridescent  sheen  in  the 
sunshine. 

"  Haow  them  blackbirds  doos  love  the  smell  o' 
thet  caow's  breath  !"  said  an  old  dame  to  me  once 
in  my  boyhood.  "  I  don't  blame  um :  I  like  it 
myself."  Whether  it  was  this  same  authority 
who  was  responsible  for  my  own  similar  early 
impression  I  do  not  know,  but  I  do  recall 
the  surprise  at  my  ultimate  discovery  that  it 
was  alone  the  quest  of  insects  that  attracted  the 
birds. 


30  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

Upon  the  first  arrival  of  the  bird  in  the  spring 
an  attentive  ear  might  detect  its  discordant  voice, 
or  the  chuckHng  note  of  his  mischievous  spouse 
and  accomphce,  in  the  great  bird  medley ;  but 
later  her  crafty  instinct  would  seem  to  warn  her 
that  silence  is  more  to  her  interest  in  the  pursuit 
of  her  wily  mission.  In  June,  when  so  many  an 
ecstatic  love-song  among  the  birds  has  modulated 
from  accents  of  ardent  love  to  those  of  glad  fru- 
ition, when  the  sonnet  to  his  "  mistress's  eye- 
brow" is  shortly  to  give  place  to  the  lullaby,  then, 
like  the  "worm  i'  the  bud,"  the  cow-bird  begins 
her  parasitical  career.  How  many  thousands  are 
the  bird  homes  which  are  blasted  in  her  "annual 
visit  ?" 

Stealthily  and  silently  she  pries  among  the 
thickets,  following  up  the  trail  of  warbler,  sparrow, 
or  thrush  like  a  sleuth  -  hound.  Yonder  a  tiny 
yellow-bird  with  a  jet-black  cheek  flits  hither  with 
a  wisp  of  dry  grass  in  her  beak,  and  disappears  in 
the  branches  of  a  small  tree  close  to  my  studio 
door.  Like  the  shadow  of  fate  the  cow-bird  sud- 
denly appears,  and  has  doubtless  soon  ferreted 
out  her  cradle. 

In  a  certain  grassy  bank  not  far  from  where  I 
am  writing,  at  the  foot  of  an  unsuspecting  fern,  a 
song-sparrow  has  built  her  nest.     It  lies  in  a  hoi- 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      3  I 

low  among  the  dried  leaves  and  grass,  and  is  so 
artfully  merged  with  its  immediate  surroundings 
that  even  though  you  know  its  precise  location  it 
still  eludes  you.  Only  yesterday  the  last  finish- 
ing-touches were  made  upon  the  nest,  and  this 
morning,  as  I  might  have  anticipated  from  the 
excess  of  lisp  and  twitter  of  the  mother  bird,  I 
find  the  first  pretty  brown-spotted  egg. 

Surely  our  cow -bird  has  missed  this  secret 
haunt  on  her  rounds.  Be  not  deceived !  Within 
a  half-hour  after  this  egg  was  laid  the  sparrow 
and  its  mate,  returning  from  a  brief  absence  to 
view  their  prize,  discover  two  eggs  where  they 
had  been  responsible  for  but  one.  The  prowling 
foe  had  already  discovered  their  secret;  for  she, 
too,  is  "  an  attendant  on  the  spring,"  and  had  been 
simply  biding  her  time.  The  parent  birds  once 
out  of  sight,  she  had  stolen  slyly  upon  the  nest, 
and  after  a  very  brief  interval  as  slyly  retreated, 
leaving  her  questionable  compliments,  presumably 
with  a  self-satisfied  chuckle.  The  intruded  eoo-  is 
so  like  its  fellow  as  to  be  hardly  distinguishable 
except  in  its  slightly  larger  size.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  sparrow,  in  particular,  owing  to  this 
similarity,  ever  realizes  the  deception.  Indeed, 
the  event  is  possibly  considered  a  cause  for  self- 
congratulation    rather  than   otherwise  —  at   least, 


32  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

until  her  eyes  are  opened  by  the  fateful  denoue- 
ment of  a  few  weeks  later.  And  thus  the  Ameri- 
can cow-bird  outcuckoos  the  cuckoo  as  an  "  at- 
tendant on  the  spring,"  taking  her  pick  among 
the  nurseries  of  featherdom,  now  victimizing  the 
oriole  by  a  brief  sojourn  in  the  swinging  ham- 
mock in  the  elm,  here  stopping  a  moment  to 
leave  her  charore  to  the  care  of  an  indis^o-bird,  to- 
morrow  creeping  through  the  grass  to  the  se- 
creted nest  of  the  Maryland  yellow -throat,  or 
Wilson's  thrush,  or  chewink.  And,  unaccount- 
able as  it  would  appear,  here  we  find  the  same 
deadly  token  safely  lodged  in  the  dainty  cobweb 
nest  of  the  vireo,  a  fragile  pendent  fabric  hung 
in  the  fork  of  a  slender  branch  which  in  itself 
would  barely  appear  sufficiently  strong  to  sus- 
tain the  weight  of  a  cow-bird  without  emptying 
the  nest. 

Indeed,  the  presence  of  this  intruded  Qgg,  like 
that  of  the  European  cuckoo  in  similar  fragile 
nests,  has  given  rise  to  the  popular  belief  that  the 
bird  must  resort  to  exceptional  means  in  these  in- 
stances. Sir  William  Jardine,  for  instance,  in  an 
editorial  foot-note  in  one  of  Gilbert  White's  pages, 
remarks : 

"  It  is  a  curious  fact,  and  one,  I  believe,  not 
hitherto  noticed  by   naturalists,  that   the   cuckoo 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      33 

deposits  its  egg  in  the  nests  of  the  titlark,  robin, 
and  wagtail  by  means  of  its  foot.  If  the  bird  sat 
on  the  nest  while  the  egg  was  laid,  the  weight  of 
its  body  would  crush  the  nest  and  cause  it  to  be 
forsaken,  and  thus  one  of  the  ends  of  Providence 
would  be  defeated.  I  have  found  the  eq-ors  of  the 
cuckoo  in  the  nest  of  a  white-throat,  built  in  so 
small  a  hole  in  a  garden  wall  that  it  was  ab- 
solutely impossible  for  the  cuckoo  to  have  got 
into  it." 

In  the  absence  of  substantiation,  this,  at  best, 
presumptive  evidence  is  discounted  by  the  well- 
attested  fact  that  the  cuckoo  has  frequently  been 
shot  in  the  act  of  carrying  a  cuckoo's  egg  in  its 
mouth,  and  there  is  on  record  an  authentic  ac- 
count of  a  cuckoo  which  was  observed  through 
a  telescope  to  lay  her  egg  on  a  bank,  and  then 
take  it  in  her  dz//  and  deposit  it  in  the  nest  of  a 
wagtail. 

There  is  no  evidence  to  warrant  a  similar  re- 
source in  our  cow -bird,  though  the  inference 
would  often  appear  irresistible,  did  we  not  know 
that  Wilson  actually  saw  the  cow-bird  in  the  act 
of  laying  in  the  diminutive  nest  of  a  red -eyed 
vireo,  and  also  in  that  of  the  bluebird. 

And  what  is  the  almost  certain  doom  of  the 
bird-home   thus   contaminated  by  the  cow -bird.? 


34 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


The  egg  is   always  laid  betimes, 
and  is  usually  the  first  to  hatch, 
the    period   of  incubation  be- 
ine  a   day   or   two   less   than 
that  of  the  eggs  of  the 
foster-parent.  And  woe 
be    to    the    fledglings 


L 


whom  fate  has  as- 

i_  sociated    with    a 

young    cow -bird! 

He  is  the  "  early  bird  that 

gets    the  worm."     His    is 

the  clamoring  red  mouth  which 

takes  the  provender  of  the  en- 

^     tire  family.     It  is  all  "grist  into 

his  mill,"  and  everything  he  eats 

seems   to   go  to  appetite  —  his   bedfellows,  if  not 

thus   starved   to   death,  being  at  length  crushed 

by  his  comparatively  ponderous  bulk,  or  ejected 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      35 

from  the  nest  to  die.  It  is  a  pretty  well  es- 
tablished fact  that  the  cuckoo  of  Europe  delib- 
erately ousts  its  companion  fledglings  —  a  fact 
first  noted  by  the  famous  Dr.  Jenner.  And  Dar- 
win has  even  asserted  that  the  process  of  ana- 
tomical evolution  has  especially  equipped  the 
young  cuckoo  for  such  an  accomplishment  —  a 
practice  in  which  some  accommodating  philo- 
sophic minds  detect  the  act  of  "  divine  benefi- 
cence," in  that  "  the  young  cuckoo  is  thus  in- 
sured sufficient  food,  and  that  its  foster-brothers 
thus  perish  before  they  have  acquired  much  feel- 
ing." 

The  following  account,  written  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness, bears  the  stamp  of  authenticity,  and  is 
furthermore  re  -  enforced  by  a  careful  and  most 
graphic  drawing  made  on  the  spot,  which  I  here 
reproduce,  and  fully  substantiates  the  previous 
statement  by  Dr.  Jenner.  The  scene  of  the 
tragedy  was  the  nest  of  a  pipit,  or  titlark,  on  the 
sround  beneath  a  heather-bush.  When  first  dis- 
covered  it  contained  two  pipit's  eggs  and  the  egg 
of  a  cuckoo. 

"  At  the  next  visit,  after  an  interval  of  forty- 
eieht  hours,"  writes  Mrs.  Blackburn,  "  we  found 
the  young  cuckoo  alone  in  the  nest,  and  both  the 
young    pipits    lying    down   the    bank,   about    ten 


36  MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

inches  from  the  margin  of  the  nest,  but  quite  Hve- 
ly  after  being  warmed  in  the  hand.  They  were 
replaced  in  the  nest  beside  the  cuckoo,  which 
stru2:"led  about  till  it  a^ot  its  back  under  one  of 
them,  when  it  climbed  backward  directly  up  the 
open  side  of  the  nest  and  pitched  the  pipit  from 
its  back  on  to  the  edge.  It  then  stood  quite  up- 
right on  its  legs,  which  were  straddled  wide  apart, 
with  the  claws  firmly  fixed  half-way  down  the  in- 
side of  the  nest,  and,  stretching  its  wings  apart 
and  backward,  it  elbowed  the  pipit  fairly  over  the 
maro^in  so  far  that  its  strus^o-les  took  it  down  the 
bank  instead  of  back  into  the  nest.  After  this 
the  cuckoo  stood  a  minute  or  two  feeling  back 
with  its  wings,  as  if  to  make  sure  that  the  pipit 
was  fairly  overboard,  and  then  subsided  into  the 
bottom  of  the  nest. 

"  I  replaced  the  ejected  one  and  went  home. 
On  returning  the  next  day,  both  nestlings  were 
found  dead  and  cold  out  of  the  nest.  .  .  .  But  what 
struck  me  most  was  this :  the  cuckoo  was  per- 
fectly naked,  without  a  vestige  of  a  feather,  or 
even  a  hint  of  future  feathers ;  its  eyes  were  not 
yet  opened,  and  its  neck  seemed  too  weak  to  sup- 
port the  weight  of  the  head.  The  pipit  had  well- 
developed  quills  on  the  wings  and  back,  and  had 
bright  eyes,  partially  open,  yet  they  seemed  quite 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      37 

helpless  under  the  manipLilations  of  the  cuckoo, 
which  looked  a  much  less  developed  creature. 
The  cuckoo's  legs,  however,  seemed  very  muscu- 
lar ;  and  it  appeared  to  feel  about  with  its  wings, 
which  were  absolutely  featherless,  as  with  hands, 
the  spurious  wing  (unusually  large  in  proportion) 
looking  like  a  spread-out  thumb." 

Considering  how  rarely  we  see  the  cow-bird  in 
our  walks,  her  merciless  ubiquity  is  astonishing. 
It  occasionally  happens  that  almost  every  nest 
I  meet  in  a  day's  walk  will  show  the  ominous 
speckled  egg.  In  a  single  stroll  in  the  country  I 
have  removed  eight  of  these  foreboding  tokens  of 
misery.  Only  last  summer  I  discovered  the  nest 
of  a  wood-sparrow  in  a  hazel-bush,  my  attention 
being  attracted  thither  by  the  parent  bird  bearing 
food  in  her  beak.  I  found  the  nest  occupied,  ap- 
propriated, monopolized,  by  a  cow-bird  fledgling — 
a  great,  fat,  clamoring  lubber,  completely  filling 
the  cavity  of  the  nest,  the  one  diminutive,  puny 
remnant  of  the  sparrow's  offspring  being  jammed 
against  the  side  of  the  nest,  and  a  skeleton  of  a 
previous  victim  hanging  among  the  branches  be- 
low, with  doubtless  others  lost  in  the  grass  some- 
where in  the  near  neighborhood,  where  they  had 
been  removed  by  the  bereaved  mother.  The 
ravenous  young  parasite,  though  not  half  grown, 


38  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

was  yet  bigger  by  nearly  double  than  the  foster- 
mother.  What  a  monster  this  !  The  "  Black 
Douglass  "  of  the  bird  home ;  a  blot  on  Nature's 
page! 

As  in  previous  instances,  observing  that  the  in- 
terloper had  a  voice  fully  capable  of  making  his 
wants  known,  I  gave  the  comfortable  little  beast 
ample  room  to  spread  himself  on  the  ground,  and 
let  the  lone  little  starveling  survivor  of  the  right- 
ful brood  have  his  cot  all  to  himself. 

And  yet,  as  I  left  the  spot,  I  confess  to  a  cer- 
tain misgiving,  as  the  pleading  chirrup  of  the 
ousted  fledgling  followed  me  faintly  and  more 
faintly  up  the  hill,  recalling,  too,  the  many  previ- 
ous similar  acts  of  mine — and  one  in  particular, 
when  I  had  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  two  of 
these  irresponsibles  found  in  a  single  nest.  But 
sober  second  thought  evoked  a  more  philosophic 
and  conscientious  mood,  the  outcome  of  which 
leading,  as  always,  to  a  semi  -  conviction  that  the 
complex  question  of  reconciliation  of  duty  and 
humanity  in  the  premises  was  not  thus  easily  dis- 
posed of,  considering,  as  I  was  bound  to  do,  the 
equal  innocence  of  the  chicks,  both  of  which  had 
been  placed  in  the  nest  in  obedience  to  a  natural 
law,  which  in  the  case  of  the  cow -bird  was  none 
the  less  a  divine  institution  because  I  failed  to  un- 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      39 

derstand  it.  Such  is  the  inevitable,  somewhat 
penitent  conckision  which  I  always  arrive  at  on 
the  cow-bird  question  ;  and  yet  my  next  cow-bird 
fledo-lino:  will  doubtless  follow  the  fate  of  all 
its  predecessors,  the  reminiscent  qualms  of  con- 
science finding  a  ready  philosophy  equal  to  the 
emergency ;  for  if,  indeed,  this  parasite  of  the 
bird  home  be  a  factor  in  the  divine  plan  of  Nat- 
ure's equilibrium,  looking  towards  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  and  the  regulation  of  the  sparrow  and 
small-bird  population,  which  we  must  admit,  how 
am  I  to  know  but  that  this  righteous  impulse  of 
the  human  animal  is  not  equally  a  divine,  as  it  is 
certainly  a  natural  institution  looking  to  the  lim- 
itations of  the  cow-bird?  One  June  morning,  a 
year  or  two  ago,  I  heard  a  loud  squeaking,  as  of  a 
young  bird  in  the  grass  near  my  door,  and,  on  ap- 
proaching, discovered  the  spectacle  of  a  cow-bird, 
almost  full-fledged,  being  fed  by  its  foster-mother, 
a  chippy  not  more  than  half  its  size,  and  which 
was  obliged  to  stand  on  tiptoe  to  cram  the  gullet 
of  the  parasite. 

The  victims  of  the  cow-bird  are  usually,  as  in 
this  instance,  birds  of  much  smaller  size,  the  fly- 
catchers, the  sparrows,  warblers,  and  vireos,  though 
she  occasionally  imposes  on  larger  species,  such 
as  the  orioles  and  the  thrushes.     The  following 


40  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

are  among  its  most  frequent  dupes,  given  some- 
what in  the  order  of  the  bird's  apparent  choice : 
song -sparrow,  field  -sparrow,  yellow  warbler,  chip- 
ping -  sparrow,  other  sparrows,  Maryland  yellow- 
throat,  yellow  -  breasted  chat,  vireos,  worm -eating 
warbler,  indigo-bird,  least-flycatcher,  bluebird,  Aca- 
dian flycatcher,  Canada  flycatcher,  oven-bird,  king- 
bird, cat -bird,  phoebe,  Wilson's  thrush,  chewink, 
and  wood-thrush. 

But  one  egg  is  usually  deposited  in  a  single 
nest;  the  presence  of  two  eggs  probably  indicates, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  European  cuckoo,  the  visits 
of  two  cow-birds  rather  than  a  second  visit  from 
the  same  individual  —  the  presence  of  two  cow- 
bird  chicks  of  equal  size  being  rather  a  proof  of 
this  than  otherwise,  in  that  kind  Nature  would 
seem  to  have  accommodated  the  bird  with  an  ex- 
ceptional physiological  resource,  which  matures 
its  eggs  at  intervals  of  three  or  more  days,  as 
against  the  daily  oviposition  of  its  dupes,  thus  giv- 
ing it  plenty  of  time  to  make  its  search  and  take 
its  pick  among  the  bird -homes.  Whether  the 
process  of  evolution  has  similarly  equipped  our 
cow-bird  I  am  not  aware ;  but  the  vicious  habits 
of  the  two  birds  are  so  identical  that  the  same 
accommodating  functional  conditions  might  rea- 
sonably be  expected.     It  is,  indeed,  an  interesting 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  Oi;;rWITTEI)  COW-BIRD     41 

fact  well  known  to  ornithologists  that  our  own 
American  cuckoos,  both  the  yellow -billed  and 
black- billed,  although  rudimentary  nest- builders, 
still  retain  the  same  exceptional  interval  in  their 
egg -laying  as  do  their  foreign  namesake.  The 
eggs  are  laid  from  four  days  to  a  week  apart,  in- 
stead of  daily,  as  with  most  birds,  their  period  of 
perilous  nidification  on  that  haphazard  apology  of 
a  nest  being  thus  possibly  prolonged  to  six  weeks. 
Thus  we  find,  in  consequence,  the  anomalous  spec- 
tacle of  the  egg  and  full-grown  chick,  and  perhaps 
one  or  two  fledglings  of  intermediate  stages  of 
growth,  scattered  about  at  once,  helter-skelter,  in 
the  same  nest.  Only  two  years  ago  I  discovered 
such  a  nest  not  a  hundred  feet  from  my  house, 
containing  one  chick  about  two  days  old,  another 
almost  full-fledged,  while  a  fresh -broken  egg  lay 
upon  the  ground  beneath.  Such  a  household 
condition  would  seem  rather  demoralizing  to  the 
cares  of  incubation,  and  doubtless  the  addled  or 
ousted  egg  is  a  frequent  episode  in  our  cuckoo's 
experience. 

It  is  an  interesting  question  which  the  contrast 
of  the  American  and  European  cuckoo  thus  pre- 
sents. Is  the  American  species  a  degenerate  or 
a  progressive  nest-builder.?  Has  she  advanced  in 
process  of  evolution  from  a  parasitical  progenitor 


42  MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

building  no  nest,  or  is  the  bird  gradually  retro- 
grading to  the  evil  ways  of  her  notorious  name- 
sake ? 

The  evidence  of  this  generic  physiological  pe- 
culiarity in  the  intervals  of  oviposition,  taken  in 
consideration  with  the  fact  of  the  rudimentary 
nest,  would  seem  to  indicate  the  retention  of  a 
now  useless  physiological  function,  and  that  the 
bird  is  thus  a  reformer  who  has  repudiated  the 
example  of  her  ancestors,  and  has  henceforth  de- 
termined to  look  after  her  own  babes. 

With  the  original  presumed  object  of  this  re- 
markable prolonged  interval  in  egg -laying  now 
removed,  the  period  will  doubtless  be  reduced 
throuo-h  orradual  evolution  to  accommodate  itself 
to  the  newly  adopted  conditions.  The  week's  in- 
terval, taken  in  connection  with  the  makeshift 
nest  or  platform  of  sticks,  is  now  a  disastrous 
element  in  the  life  of  the  bird.  Such  of  the 
cuckoos,  therefore,  as  build  the  more  perfect  nests, 
or  lay  at  shortest  intervals,  will  have  a  distinct 
advantage  over  their  less  provident  fellows,  and 
the  law  of  heredity  will  thus  insure  the  continual 
survival  of  the  fittest. 

The  cuckoo  is  not  alone  among  British  birds 
in  its  intrusion  on  other  nests.  Many  other  spe- 
cies are  occasionally  addicted  to  the  same  prac- 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      43 

tice,  though  such  acts  arc  apparently  accidental 
rather  than  deliberate,  so  far  as  parasitical  intent 
is  concerned.  The  lapse  is  especially  noticeable 
among  such  birds  as  build  in  hollow  trees  and 
boxes,  as  the  woodpeckers  and  wagtails.  Thus 
the  English  starling  will  occasionally  impose 
upon  and  dispossess  the  green  woodpecker.  In 
the  process  of  nature  in  such  cases  the  stronger 
of  the  two  birds  would  retain  the  nest,  and  thus 
assume  the  duties  of  foster-parent.  Starting  from 
this  reasonable  premise  concerning  the  prehis- 
toric cuckoo,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  natural 
selection,  working  through  ages  of  evolution  by 
heredity,  might  have  developed  the  habitual  resig- 
nation of  the  evicted  bird,  perhaps  to  the  ultimate 
entire  abandonment  of  the  function  of  incubation. 
Inasmuch  as  "  we  have  no  experience  in  the  crea- 
tion of  worlds,"  we  can  only  presume. 

Indeed,  the  similarities  and  contrasts  afforded 
by  a  comparison  of  the  habits  of  all  these  birds — 
European  cuckoo,  American  cuckoo,  and  cow-bird 
— afford  an  interesting  theme  for  the  student  of 
evolution.  What  is  to  be  the  ultimate  outcome 
of  it  all }  for  the  murderous  cuckoo  must  be  con- 
sidered merely  as  an  innocent  factor  in  the  great 
scheme  of  Nature's  equilibrium,  in  which  the  de- 
vourer  and  the  parasite  would  seem  to  play  the 


all-important 
parts,  the  pres- 
ent   example 
being  especial- 
ly   emphasized 
because   of   its 
conspicuousness 
and   its  violence  to 
purely   human  sen- 
timent.     The  para- 
site   would    often 
seem  to  hold  the  balance 
of  power. 

Jonathan  Swift's  epit- 
ome   of    the    subject,   if 
not    specifically    true,  is 
at  least  correct  in  its  general  application : 

"A  flea 
Has  smaller  fleas  that  on  him  prey  ; 
And  these  have  smaller  still  to  bite  'em ; 
And  so  proceed  ad  infinitum." 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      45 

Even  the  tiny  egg  of  a  butterfly  has  its  ichneu- 
mon parasite,  a  microscopic  wasp,  which  lays  its 
own  egg  within  the  larger  one,  which  ultimately 
hatches  a  wasp  instead  of  the  baby  caterpillar. 

But  who  ever  heard  of  anything  but  good  luck 
falling  to  the  lot  of  cow-bird  or  cuckoo,  except  as 
its  blighting  course  is  occasionally  arrested  by  the 
outraged  human  ?  They  always  find  a  feathered 
nest. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interestino^  to  note  cer- 
tain  developments  in  bird  life  upon  the  lines  of 
which  evolution  might  work  with  revolutionary 
effect.  Most  of  our  birds  are  helpless  and  gener- 
ally resigned  victims  to  the  cow -bird,  but  there 
are  indications  of  occasional  effective  protest 
among  them.  Thus  the  little  Maryland  yellow- 
throat,  according  to  various  authorities,  often 
ousts  the  intruded  egg,  and  its  broken  remains 
are  also  occasionally  seen  on  the  ground  beneath 
the  nests  of  the  cat-bird  and  the  oriole.  The  red- 
eyed  vireo,  on  the  other  hand,  though  having  ap- 
parently an  easier  task  than  the  latter,  in  the 
lesser  depth  of  her  pensile  nest,  commonly  aban- 
dons it  altogether  to  the  unwelcome  speckled 
ovum  —  always,  I  believe,  if  the  cow- bird  has  an- 
ticipated her  own  first  egg. 

But   we   have   a   more   remarkable   example   of 


46 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


opposition  in  the  resource  of  the  little  yellow 
warbler,  which  I  have  noted  as  one  of  the  favorite 
dupes  of  the  cow -bird  —  a  deliberate,  intelligent, 
courageous  defiance  and  frequent  victory  which 
are  unique  in  bird  history,  and  which,  if  through 
evolutionary  process 
they  became  the  fash- 
ion in  featherdom, 
would  put  the 
cow -bird's  mis- 
chief greatly  at 
a  discount.      The 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      47 


identity  of  this  pretty  little  warbler  is  certainly 
familiar  to  most  observant  country  dwellers,  even 
if  unknown  by  name,  though  its  golden -yellow 
plumage  faintly  streaked  with  dusky  brown  upon 
the  breast  would  naturally  suggest  its  popular 
title  of  "  summer  yellow-bird."  It  is  one  of  the 
commonest  of  the  ninio-tiltidce,  or  wood-warblers, 
though  more  properly  a  bird  of  the  copse  and 
shrubbery  than  of  the 
woods. 

This  nest  is  a  beau- 
tiful piece  of  bird 
architecture.  In  a 
walk  in  search  of  one 
only  a  day  or  two  ago 
I  procured  one,  which 
is  now  before  me.  It 
was  built  in  the  fork 
of  an  elder-bush,  to 
which  it  was  moored 

by  strips  of  fine  bark  and  cobweb,  its  downy 
bulk  being  composed  by  a  fitted  mass  of  fine 
grass,  willow  cotton,  fern  wood,  and  other  similar 
ingredients.  It  is  about  three  inches  in  depth, 
outside  measurement.  But  this  depth  greatly 
varies  in  different  specimens.  Our  next  speci- 
men may  afford  quite  a  contrast,  for  the  yellow 


48  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

warbler  occasionally  finds  it  to  her  interest  to  ex- 
tend the  elevation  of  her  dwelling  to  a  remark- 
able height.  On  page  50  is  shown  one  of  these 
nests,  snugly  moored  in  the  fork  of  a  scrub  apple- 
tree.  Its  depth  from  the  rim  to  the  base,  viewed 
from  the  outside,  is  about  five  inches,  at  least  two 
inches  longer  than  necessity  would  seem  to  re- 
quire, and  apparently  with  a  great  waste  of  mate- 
rial in  the  lower  portion,  as  the  hollow  with  the 
pretty  spotted  eggs  is  of  only  the  ordinary  depth 
of  about  two  inches,  thus  hardly  reaching  half- 
way to  the  base.  Let  us  examine  it  closely. 
There  certainly  is  a  suspicious  line  or  division 
across  its  upper  portion,  about  an  inch  below  the 
rim,  and  extending  more  or  less  distinctly  com- 
pletely around  the  nest.  By  a  very  little  persua- 
sion with  our  finger-tip  the  division  readily  yields, 
and  we  discover  the  summit  of  the  nest  to  be  a 
mere  rim  —  a  top  story,  as  it  were — with  a  full- 
sized  nest  beneath  it  as  a  foundation.  Has  our 
warbler,  then,  come  back  to  his  last  year's  home 
and  fitted  it  up  ane\v  for  this  summer's  brood  ? 
Such  would  be  a  natural  supposition,  did  we  not 
see  that  the  foundation  is  as  fresh  in  material  as 
the  summit.  Perhaps,  then,  the  bird  has  already 
raised  her  first  spring  brood,  and  has  simply  ex- 
tended  her    May   domicile,  and   provided   a   new 


^J^ 


.^""^..f 


^^'^.^^X^^^ 


^ 

y 


\  ^v<^-> 


50 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


nursery  for  a  second  family.  But  either  supposi- 
tion is  quickly  dispelled  as  we  further  examine 
the  nest ;  for  in  separating  the  upper  compart- 
ment we  have  just  caught  a  glimpse  of  what  was, 
perhaps  only  yesterday,  tlie  hollow  of  a  perfect 
nest;  and,  what  is  more  to  the  point  of  my  story, 

the  hollow  contains  an 
egg — perhaps  two,  in 
which   case    they  will 
be  very  dissimilar,  one 
of  delicate  white  with 
faint    spots    of   brown 
on  its  larger  end,  the 
putting  of  the  warbler, 
the  other  much  larger, 
with  its  greenish  sur- 
face entirely  speckled 
with  brown,  and  which, 
if  we  have  had  any  ex- 
perience  in   bird-nest- 
ing, we  immediately  recognize  as  the  mischievous 
token  of  the  cow -bird.      We  have  discovered   a 
most  interesting  curiosity  for  our  natural-history 
cabinet — the  embodiment  of  a  presumably  new 
form  of  intelligence  in  the  divine  plan  looking  to 
the  survival  of  the  fittest.     It  is  not  known  how 
many  years  or  centuries   it   has  taken   the   little 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-BIRD      5  I 

warbler  to  develop  this  clever  resource  to  outwit 
the  cow-bird.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  lit- 
tle mother  has  got  tired  of  being  thus  imposed 
upon,  and  is  the  first  of  her  kind  on  record  which 
has  taken  these  peculiar  measures  for  rising  above 
her  besetting  trouble. 

Who  can  tell  what  the  future  may  develop  in 
the  nests  of  other  birds  whose  homes  are  similarly 
invaded.?  I  doubt  not  that  this  crying  cow-bird 
and  cuckoo  evil  comes  up  as  a  matter  of  consid- 
eration in  bird  councils.  The  two-storied  nest 
may  yet  become  the  fashion  in  featherdom,  in 
which  case  the  cow -bird  and  European  cuckoo 
would  be  forced  to  build  nests  of  their  own  or 
perish. 

But  have  we  fully  examined  this  nest  of  our 
yellow  warbler.'^  Even  now  the  lower  section 
seems  more  bulky  than  the  normal  nest  should 
be.  Can  we  not  trace  still  another  faint  outline 
of  a  transverse  division  in  the  fabric,  about  an 
inch  below  the  one  already  separated  ?  Yes ;  it 
parts  easily  with  a  little  disentangling  of  the 
fibres,  and  another  spotted  egg  is  seen  within.  A 
three-storied  nest!  A  nest  full  of  stories — cer- 
tainly. I  recently  read  of  a  specimen  containing 
four  stories,  upon  the  top  of  which  downy  pile  the 
little  warbler  sat  like   Patience   on  a  monument, 


52 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


presumably  smiling  at  the  discomfiture  of  the  out- 
witted cow-bird  parasite,  who  had  thus  exhausted 
her  powers  of  mischief  for  the  season,  and  doubt- 
less convinced  herself  of  the  folly  of  "  putting  all 
her  eggs  in  one  basket." 

When  we  consider  the  life  of  the  cow-bird,  how 
suggestive  is  this  spectacle  which  we  may  see 
every  year  in  September  in  the  chuckling  flocks 


massing  for  their  migration,  occasionally  fairly 
blackening  the  trees  as  with  a  mildew,  each  one 
the  visible  witness  of  a  double  or  quadruple  cold- 
blooded murder,  each  the  grim  substitute  for  a 
whole  annihilated  singing  family  of  song-sparrow, 
warbler,  or  thrush  !  What  a  blessing,  at  least  hu- 
manly speaking,  could  the  epicurean  population 
en  rotite  in  the  annual  Southern  passage  of  this 
dark  throng  only  learn  what  a  surpassing  substi- 


THE  CUCKOOS  AND  THE  OUTWITTED  COW-IHRD      53 

tute  they  would  prove — on  toast — for  the  bobo- 
links which  as  "  reed-birds  "  are  sacrificed  by  the 
thousands  to  the  delectable  satisfaction  of  those 
"  fine-mouthed  and  daintie  wantons  who  set  such 
store  by  their  tooth"! 

And  what  the  cow-bird  is,  so  is  the  Continental 
"  cuckoo/'  Shall  we  not  discriminate  in  our 
employment  of  the  superlative  ?  What  of  the 
throstle  and  the  lark?  Shall  we  still  sins:  —  all 
together : 

"  O  cuckoo  !     I  hear  thee  and  rejoice  ! 
Thrice  welcome  darling  of  the  spring." 


DOOR-STEP  NEIGHBORS 


■^ 


"^Slfi^ 


/  OW  little  do  we  appreciate  our  opportu- 
nities for  natural  observation  !  Even  un- 
der the  most  apparently  discouraging 
and  commonplace  environment,  what  a  neglected 
harvest!  A  back-yard  city  grass-plot,  forsooth, 
what  an  invitation !  Yet  there  is  one  interroga- 
tion to  which  the  local  naturalist  is  continually 
called  to  respond.  If  perchance  he  dwells  in  Con- 
necticut, how  repeatedly  is  he  asked,  "  Don't  you 
find  your  particular  locality  in  Connecticut  a  spe- 
cially rich  field  for  natural  observation  ?"  The 
botanist  of  New  Jersey  or  the  ornithologist  of 
Esopus-on- Hudson  is  expected  to  give  an  affirm- 
ative reply  to  similar  questions  concerning  his 
chosen  hunting-grounds,  if,  indeed,  he  does  not 


58  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

avail  himself  of  that  happy  aphorism  with  which 
Gilbert  White  was  wont  to  instruct  his  question- 
ers concerning  the  natural-history  harvest  of  his 
beloved  Selborne :  "  That  locality  is  always  rich- 
est which  is  most  observed." 

The  arena  of  the  events  which  I  am  about  to 
describe  and  picture  comprised  a  spot  of  almost 
bare  earth  less  than  one  yard  square,  which  lay  at 
the  base  of  the  stone  step  to  my  studio  door  in 
the  country. 

The  path  leading  to  the  studio  lay  through  a 
tangle  of  tall  grass  and  weeds,  with  occasional 
worn  patches  showing  the  bare  earth.  As  it  ap- 
proached the  door-step  the  surface  of  the  ground 
was  quite  clean  and  baked  in  the  sun,  and  barely 
supported  a  few  scattered,  struggling  survivors  of 
the  sheep's-sorrel,  silvery  cinquefoil,  ragweed,  vari- 
ous grasses,  and  tiny  rushes  which  rimmed  the 
border.  Sitting  upon  this  threshold  stone  one 
morning  in  early  summer,  I  permitted  my  eyes  to 
scan  the  tiny  patch  of  bare  ground  at  my  feet,  and 
what  I  observed  during  a  very  few  moments  sug- 
gested the  present  article  as  a  good  piece  of  mis- 
sionary work  in  the  cause  of  nature,  and  a  sug- 
gestive tribute  to  the  glory  of  the  commonplace. 
The  episodes  which  I  shall  describe  represent 
the  chronicle  of  a  single  day — in  truth,  of  but  a 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS  59 

few  hours  in  that  clay — though  the  same  events 
were  seen  in  frequent  repetition  at  intervals  for 
months.  Perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  objects 
— if,  indeed,  a  hole  can  be  considered  an  "  object  " 
— were  those  two  ever-present  features  of  every 
trodden  path  and  bare  spot  of  earth  anywhere, 
ant-tunnels  and  that  other  circular  burrow,  about 
the  size  of  a  quill,  usually  associated,  and  which  is 
also  commonly  attributed  to  the  ants. 

As  I  sat  upon  my  stone  step  that  morning,  I 
counted  seven  of  these  smooth  clean  holes  within 
close  range,  three  of  them  hardly  more  than  an 
inch  apart.  They  penetrated  beyond  the  vision, 
and  were  evidently  very  deep.  Knowing  from 
past  experience  the  wary  tenant  which  dwelt  with- 
in them,  I  adjusted  myself  to  a  comfortable  atti- 
tude, and  remaining  perfectly  motionless,  awaited 
developments.  After  a  lapse  of  possibly  five  min- 
utes, I  suddenly  discovered  that  I  could  count  but 
five  holes ;  and  while  recounting  to  make  sure, 
moving  my  eyes  as  slowly  as  possible,  my  numera- 
tion was  cut  short  at  four.  In  another  moment 
two  more  had  disappeared,  and  the  remaining  two 
immediately  followed  in  obscurity,  until  no  ves- 
tige of  a  hole  of  any  kind  was  to  be  seen.  The 
ground  appeared  absolutely  level  and  unbroken. 
Were  it  not  for  the  circular  depression,  or  "  door- 


yard,"  around  each  hole,  their 
location  would,  indeed,  have 
been  almost  impossible.  A 
slight  motion  of  one  of  my  feet 
at  this  juncture,  however,  and, 
presto!  what  a  change!    Seven 


*f  A 


/i^ 


DOOR-STEP    NEIGHROKS  6l 

black  holes  in  an  instant !  And  now  another  wait 
of  five  minutes,  followed  by  the  same  hocus-pocus, 
and  the  black  spots,  one  by  one,  vanishing  from 
sight  even  as  I  looked  upon  them.  But  let  us 
keep  perfectly  quiet  this  time  and  examine  the  sus- 
pected spots  more  carefully.  Locating  the  posi- 
tion of  the  hole  by  the  little  circular  "  door-yard," 
we  can  now  certainly  distinguish  a  new  feature, 
not  before  noted,  at  the  centre  of  each  —  two 
sharp  curved  prongs,  rising  an  eighth  of  an  inch 
or  more  above  the  surface  and  widely  extended. 

What  a  danger  signal  to  the  creeping  insect 
innocent  in  its  neighborhood !  How  many  a 
tragedy  in  the  bug  world  has  been  enacted  in 
these  inviting,  clean-swept  little  door-yards — these 
pitfalls,  so  artfully  closed  in  order  that  their  de- 
sign may  be  the  more  surely  effective.  As  I 
have  said,  these  tunnels  are  commonly  called 
"  ant-holes,"  perhaps  with  some  show  of  reason. 
It  is  true  that  ants  occasionally  are  seen  to  go 
into  them,  but  not  by  their  own  choice,  while  the 
most  careful  observer  will  wait  in  vain  to  see  the 
ant  come  out  again.  Here  at  the  edge  of  the 
grass  we  see  one  approaching  now — a  big  red  ant 
from  yonder  ant  -  hill.  He  creeps  this  way  and 
that,  and  anon  is  seen  trespassing  in  the  precincts 
of  the   unhealthy  court.     He   crosses   its   centre, 


^2  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

when,  click !  and  in  an  instant  his  place  knows 
him  no  more,  and  a  black  hole  marks  the  spot 
where  he  met  his  fate,  which  is  now  being  duly- 
celebrated  in  a  supplementary  fete  several  inches 
belowground. 

A  poor  unfortunate  green  caterpillar,  which, 
with  a  very  little  forcible  persuasion  in  the  inter- 
est of  science,  was  induced  to  take  a  short-cut 
across  this  nice  clean  space  of  earth  to  the  clover 
beyond,  was  the  next  martyr  to  my  passion  for 
original  observation.  He  might  have  pursued  his 
even  course  across  the  arena  unharmed,  but  he 
too  persisted  in  trespassing,  and  suddenly  was 
seen  to  transform  from  a  slow  creeping  laggard 
into  the  liveliest  acrobat,  as  he  stood  on  his  head 
and  apparently  dived  precipitately  into  the  hole 
which  suddenly  appeared  beneath  him.  A  cer- 
tain busy  fly  made  itself  promiscuous  in  the 
neighborhood,  more  than  once  to  the  demoraliza- 
tion of  my  necessary  composure,  as  it  crept  per- 
sistently upon  my  nose.  What  was  my  delight 
when  I  observed  the  fickle  insect  in  curious  con- 
templation of  a  pair  of  calipers  at  the  centre  of 
one  of  the  little  courts !  But,  whether  from  past 
experience  or  innate  philosophy  in  the  insect  I 
know  not,  the  pronged  hooks,  though  coming  to- 
gether with   a    click  once  or  twice    at   the   near 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS  63 

proximity  of  the  tempter,  failed  in  their  oppor- 
tunity, and  the  trap  was  soon  seen  carefully  set 
again,  flush  with  the  ground  at  the  mouth  of  the 
burrow. 

The  contrast  of  these  clean -swept  door-yards 
with  the  mound  of  debris  of  the  ants  suggested  an 
investigation  of  the  comparative  methods  of  bur- 
rowing and  the  disposal  of  the  excavated  mate- 
rial. Here  is  a  hole  evidently  some  inches  in 
depth ;  what,  then,  has  become  of  the  earth  re- 
moved ?  Suiting  action  to  the  thought,  I  swept 
into  the  openings  of  two  or  three  of  the  holes 
quite  a  quantity  of  loose  earth  scraped  from  the 
close  vicinity,  and  thus  completely  obliterated  the 
opening  of  burrow,  door-yard  and  all. 

I  awaited  in  vain  any  sign  of  returning  activity 
at  the  surface,  and,  my  patience  being  somewhat 
taxed,  I  entered  my  studio,  where  I  remained  for 
a  quarter  of  an  hour,  perhaps.  Upon  stealing 
cautiously  to  the  doorway,  I  observed  all  the  oblit- 
erated holes  had  reappeared,  and  upon  taking 
once  more  my  original  position  I  was  soon  re- 
warded with  a  demonstration  of  the  method  of 
excavation.  After  a  moment  or  two  a  pellet  of 
earth  seemed  suddenly  to  rise  from  within  the 
cavity,  and  when  arrived  at  the  level  of  the 
o^round  was  suddenlv  shot  forth  a  distance  of  five 


64  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

or  six  inches,  as  though  thrown  from  a  tiny  round 
flat  shove],  which  suddenly  flashed  from  the  open- 
ing, and  as  quickly  retired  to  its  depths,  though 
not  without  a  momentary  display  of  two  curved 
prongs  and  a  formidable  show  of  spider-like  legs. 

After  a  short  lapse  of  time  the  act  was  re- 
peated, this  time  a  tiny  stone  being  brought  to 
the  surface,  and,  after  a  brief  pause  at  the  door- 
way, was  jerked  to  a  distance  as  from  a  catapult. 
I  now  concluded  to  try  the  power  of  this  pro- 
pelling force,  and  taking  a  small  stone,  about 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  length  and  a  quarter- 
inch  in  thickness,  laid  it  over  the  mouth  of  the 
tunnel.  A  few  minutes  passed,  when  I  noticed  a 
slight  motion  in  the  stone,  immediately  followed 
by  a  forcible  ejectment,  which  threw  it  nearl}'  an 
inch,  the  propelling  instrument  retiring  so  quickly 
into  the  burrow  beneath  as  to  scarce  afford  a 
glimpse.  The  stone  appeared  almost  to  have 
jumped  voluntarily. 

For  an  hour  or  more  the  bombardment  of  pel- 
lets and  small  stones  continued  from  the  mouth 
of  the  pit,  until  a  small  pile  of  the  spent  ammuni- 
tion had  accumulated  at  several  inches  distance, 
and  at  length  the  hole  entirely  disappeared,  the 
earth  in  its  vicinity  presenting  an  apparently 
level  surface — an  armed  peace,  in  truth,  with  the 


DOOR-STEP    NEIGHBORS 


65 


two  touchy  curved  cal- 
ipers on  duty,  as  al- 
ready described. 

Following  the  hint 
of   past  experience,   I 
concluded   to   explore 
the  depths  of  one 
of    these    tunnels, 
especially  as  I  de- 
sired a  specimen  of 
the  wily  tenant  for 
portraiture;    and  it  is,  in- 
deed,  an    odd  fish   that  one 
may  land  on  the  surface  if  he 
be  sufficiently  alert  in  his  angling. 
No  hook  or  bait   is   required  in 
this    sort   of   fishinor.      Takino;   a 
long  culm  of  timothy-grass,  I  in- 
serted  the   tip   into   the  burrow. 
It  progressed  without  impediment 
two,  three,  six,  eight  inches,  and 
when  at  the  depth  of  about  ten 
inches  appeared  to  touch  bottom, 
which  in  this  kind  of  ano^lino^  is 
the  signal  for  a  "strike  "  and  the 
landing  of  the  game.     Instantly 
withdrawing   the    grass    culm,    I 


66  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

found  my  fish  at  its  tip,  from  which  he  quickly 
dropped  to  the  ground.  His  singular  identity  is 
shown  in  my  illustration — an  uncouth  nondescript 
among  grubs.  His  body  is  whitish  and  soft,  with 
a  huge  hump  on  the  lower  back  armed  with  two 
small  hooks.  His  enormous  head  is  now  seen  to 
be  apparently  circular  in  outline,  and  we  readily 
see  how  perfectly  it  would  fill  the  opening  of  the 
burrow  like  an  operculum.  But  a  close  examina- 
tion shows  us  that  this  operculum  is  really  com- 
posed of  two  halves,  on  two  separate  segments  of 
the  body,  the  segment  at  the  extremity  only  being 
the  true  head,  armed  with  its  powerful,  sharp,  curved 
jaws.  As  he  lies  there  sprawling  on  his  six  spider- 
like legs,  we  may  now  easily  test  the  skill  of  his  trap, 
and  gain  some  idea  of  his  voracious  personality. 

If  with  the  point  of  our  knife-blade,  holding  it 
in  the  direction  of  the  insect's  body,  we  now  touch 
its  tail,  what  a  display  of  vehement  acrobatics ! 
Instantly  the  agile  body  is  bent  backward  in  a 
loop,  while  the  teeth  fasten  to  the  knife-blade  with 
an  audible  click.  If  our  finger-tip  is  substituted 
for  the  steel,  the  force  of  the  stroke  and  the  prick 
and  grip  of  the  jaws  are  unpleasantly  perceptible. 

In  order  to  fully  comprehend  the  make-up  of 
this  curious  cave-dweller  we  must  turn  biologists 
for  the  moment.     He  must   be   considered  from 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS  6/ 

the  evolutionary  stand-point,  or  at  least  from  the 
stand-point  of  comparative  anatomy. 

The  first  discovery  that  we  make  is  that  as  we 
now  see  him  he  is  crawling  on  his  back — a  fact 
which  seems  to  have  escaped  his  biographers 
heretofore.  It  is,  in  truth,  the  underside  of  his 
head  which  is  uppermost  at  the  mouth  of  the  bur- 
row, and  his  six  zigzag  legs  are  distorted  back- 
ward to  enable  him  to  keep  this  contrary  position. 
And  what  a  hideous  monster  is  this,  whose  flat, 
metallic,  dirt -begrimed  face  stares  skyward  from 
this  circular  burrow !  Well  might  it  strike  terror 
to  the  heart  of  the  helpless  insect  which  should 
suddenly  find  himself  confronted  by  the  motion- 
less stare  of  these  four  cruel,  glistening  black 
eyes !  But  he  is  now  a  "  fish  out  of  water,"  and  is 
about  as  helpless,  nature  never  having  intended 
him  to  be  seen  outside  of  his  burrow — at  least,  in 
this  present  form.  There  he  dwells,  setting  his 
circular  trap  at  the  mouth  of  his  pitfall,  and  wait- 
ing for  the  voluntary  sacrifice  of  his  insect  neigh- 
bors to  fill  his  maw. 

But  this  uncouth  shape,  which  so  courts  ob- 
scurity, is  not  always  thus  so  reasonably  retiring. 
A  few  glass  tumblers  inverted  above  as  many  of 
these  larger  holes  during  the  summer  will  inter- 
cept the  winged  sprite  into  which  he  is  shortly  to 


68  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

be  transfigured  —  a  brilliant  metallic -hued  beetle, 
perhaps  flashing  with  bronzy  gold  or  glittering 
like  an  emerald — the  beautiful  cicindela,  or  tiger- 
beetle,  known  to  the  entomologist  as  the  most 
agile  winged  among  the  coleopterous  tribe; 
known  to  the  populace,  perhaps,  simply  as  a 
bright  glittering  fly  that  revels  in  the  hot  sum- 
mer sands  of  the  sea-shore  or  dusty  country  road, 
making  its  short  spans  of  glittering  flight  from 
the  very  feet  of  the  observer. 

If  we  capture  one  of  them  with 
our  butterfly-net  he  will  be  found 
to  bear  a  oreneral  resemblance  to 
the  portrait  here  indicated  —  a 
slender  -  legged,  proportionably 
1  arse-headed  beetle,  with  formid- 
able  jaws  capable  of  wide  exten- 
sion, and  re -enforced  by  an  insatiate  carnivorous 
hunger  inherited  from  his  former  estate. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  all  the  holes  which  we 
observe  in  the  ground  are  not  ant-holes ;  nor,  in- 
deed, are  they  monopolized  by  the  tiger -beetles. 
There  were  other  tunnels  which  I  saw  dug  in  my 
square  yard  of  earth  on  that  morning,  which,  while 
not  of  quite  such  depth,  represented  equally  deep- 
laid  plans. 

While  observing  mv  cicindelas  on  that  morn- 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS  69 

ing,  my  attention  was  at  length  diverted  by  an 
old  friend  of  mine,  wlio  gave  promise  of  much  en- 
tertainment—  a  tiny  black  wasp,  whose  restless, 
rapid,  zigzag,  apparently  aimless  wanderings  over 
the  ground  brought  him  into  continual  danger 
of  contact  with  the  snatching  jaws  of  the  cave- 
dwelling  tiger,  from  which,  however,  he  somehow 
escaped,  though  I  distinctly  heard  the  occasional 
clicking  of  the  eager  jaws. 

With  short  abrupt  flights  or  agile  runs  of  a  few 
inches,  accompanied  by  nervous  periodic  flirts  of 
the  folded  wings,  the  insect  had  covered  pretty 
much  of  the  ground  in  a  short  time,  until  she  at 
length  appeared  to  have  discovered  the  object  of 
her  search,  as  she  withdrew  from  beneath  a  sorrel 
leaf  a  big  fat  spider  several  times  as  large  as  her- 
self. Its  legs  were  folded  beneath  its  body,  and  it 
was  perfectly  plain  that  this  was  not  the  first  time 
that  it  had  been  in  the  toils  of  the  wasp,  which 
had  evidently  stung  it  into  submission  and  stupor 
some  minutes  previous.  Tugging  bravely  at  her 
charge,  the  little  black  Amazon  dragged  her  bur- 
den nimbly  over  the  ground,  pulling  it  after  her 
in  entire  disregard  of  obstacles,  now  this  way,  now 
that,  with  the  same  exasperating  disregard  of  eter- 
nity which  she  at  first  displayed,  and  at  length  de- 
posited it  on  the  top  of  a  little  flat  weed,  where  it 


70 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


^ 

/^l 

^'^j 


■a' 


V 


«*   £ 


^. 


v»r 


««^. 


was  left,  while  for  five  minutes  more  she  pursued 
the  same  zigzag,  apparentl}^  senseless  meandering 
over  the   entire  field   of  earth.     Now  she  seems 
again  to  stumble  upon  her  neg- 
lected prey,  and  taking  it  once 
more  in    her   formidable  jaws, 
she   lugs   it   again   for  a  long 
helter-skelter  jaunt,  this   time 
depositing  it  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  a  hole,  which  at  first 
sight  might  have  been  consid- 
ered an  "ant -hole,"  from   the 
debris  which  lay  scattered  about 
in  its  vicinity.     After  consider- 
able needless  delay,  she 
is  seen  for  once  motion- 
less, so  far  as  her  legs  arc 
-'.,•  :\      concerned,  but  with  her 
head    over    the     tunnel, 
,•'*'*'■  while,  with  flipping  wings  and 

^  rapidly    wa\'ing    antennae,   she 

investigates  its  depths.  Sat- 
isfied that  all  is  well,  she  again  reaches  her  drowsy 
spider,  by  a  tangled  circuit  of  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile — wasp  measurement — and  taking  the  victim 
in  her  teeth  for  the  third  time,  finally  succeeds  in 
reaching  the  burrow,  into  which,  without  a  parti- 


^^. 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS 


71 


,-^ 


4  '^^^^^:'k^-.>  ~ 


cle  of  ceremony,  she   instantly  retreats,  dragging 
her  helpless  burden   after   her.      Both  wasp   and 
spider  are   soon  out  of  sight,  and  so  remain  per- 
haps for  a  space  of  two  minutes,  when  the  tips  of 
the  nervous  antennce  appear  at  the  doorway  and 
the  wasp  emerges.      What   now  follows  is   most 
curious  and  interesting.     With  an  energy  and  di- 
rectness  in    strikino:    contrast   to 
her  previous  proceedings,  she  pro 
ceeds  to  fill  the  cavity,  bit- 
ing the  earth  with  her  man- 
dibles, and  with  her  spiked 
legs  kicking   and  shoving 
in  the  loose  soil  thus  col- 
lected, ever  and  anon  back- 
ing up  to  the  hole  and  insert- 
ing the  tip  of  her  tail  to  force 
down  the  mass.     As  the  iillino- 
IS   nearly  completed,  with  the 
fore  feet  and  jaws  the  surround- 
ing earth  is  scraped  for  material,  which  she  imme- 
diately proceeds  to  pack  by  a  rhythmic  tamping 
motion  of  the  tail,  until,  at  the  end  of  five  min- 
utes, perhaps,  the  ground-level  is  finally  reached, 
the   surface   smoothed,  and    no    sign    remains    to 
mark  the  grave  of  the  stupefied  spider  victim. 
Not  an  hour  after  this  episode  I  was  treated  to 


72  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

another  of  even  more  interest.  As  I  took  my 
seat  upon  the  door-step  I  started  into  flight  a  big 
black  wasp,  upon  whose  doings  I  had  evidently 
been  intruding. 

This  wasp  was  much  larger  than  the  one  just 
described,  being  about  an  inch  in  length.  Its 
wings  were  pale  brown  and  its  body  jet-black, 
with  sundry  small  yellowish  spots  about  the 
thorax.  But  its  most  conspicuous  feature,  and 
one  which  would  ever  fix  the  identity  of  the  creat- 
ure, was  the  long,  slender,  wire-like  waist,  occupy- 
ing a  quarter  of  the  length  of  its  entire  body. 

In  a  moment  or  two  the  wasp  had  returned, 
and  stood  at  the  mouth  of  the  shallow  pit.  Ey- 
ing me  intently  for  a  space,  and  satisfied  that 
there  was  nothing  to  fear,  she  dived  into  the  hol- 
low and  began  to  excavate,  turning  round  and 
round  as  she  gnawed  the  earth  at  the  bottom,  and 
shovelling  it  out  with  her  spiked  legs.  Now  and 
then  she  would  back  out  of  the  burrow  to  recon- 
noitre, and  her  alert  attitude  at  such  times  was 
very  amusing — her  antennce  drooping  towards  the 
burrow  and  in  incessant  motion ;  the  abdomen 
on  its  long  wire  stem  bobbing  up  and  down  at 
regular  intervals,  accompanied  by  a  flipping  mo- 
tion of  the  wings ;  the  short  fore  legs,  one  or  both, 
upraised  with  comical  effect. 


DOOR-STEP    NEICIIBORS  73 

^  As   the   tunnel  was 

^■■■-     v^.,  deepened  a  new  meth- 

od of  excavation  was 
employed.  It  has  now 
reached  a  depth  of  an 


'*/^ 


ct 


J/  - 


4  %-^'^  i" 


\^'4-l 


74  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

inch,  only  the  extremity  of  the  insect's  body  ap- 
pearing, and  the  two  hindermost  legs  clinging 
to  surrounding  earth  for  purchase.  The  deep 
digging  is  now  accompanied  by  a  continual  buz- 
zing noise,  resembling  that  produced  by  a  blue- 
bottle fly  held  captive  between  one's  fingers.  At 
intervals  of  about  ten  or  fifteen  seconds  the  wasp 
would  quickly  back  out  of  the  burrow,  bring- 
ing a  load  of  sand,  which  it  held  between  the 
back  of  the  jaws  and  its  thorax,  sustained  at  the 
sides  by  the  two  upraised  fore  legs.  After  a  mo- 
ment's pause  with  this  burden,  the  insect  would 
make  a  sudden  short  dartino;  flio-ht  of  a  foot  or 
more  in  a  quick  circuit,  hurling  the  sand  a  yard 
or  more  distant  from  the  burrow.  At  the  end  of 
about  fifteen  minutes  the  burrow  was  sunk  to  the 
depth  of  an  inch  and  a  half,  the  wasp  entirely  dis- 
appearing, and  indicated  only  by  the  continuous 
buzziner. 

At  this  time,  the  luncheon  hour  having  arrived, 
I  was  obliged  to  pause  in  my  investigations,  and 
in  order  to  be  able  to  locate  the  burrow  in  the 
event  of  its  obliteration  by  the  wasp  before  my 
return,  I  scratched  a  circle  in  the  hard  dirt,  the 
hole  being  at  its  exact  centre. 

Upon  my  return,  an  hour  later,  I  was  met  with 
a  surprise.      The   ways   of    the   digger  -  wasps  of 


DOOR-STEF    XEICHBORS  75 

various  species  were  fa- 
iiiiliai,  but  I  now  noted 
a  featuie  of  \\a^p-engi- 
neeiing  whicli  indeed 
bcems  to  await  its  chron- 


']6  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

icier,  as    I    find    no   mention   of   it   by   the  wasp- 
historians. 

At  the  exact  centre  of  my  circle,  in  place  of  a 
cavity,  I  now  found  a  tiny  pile  of  stones,  sup- 
ported upon  a  small  stick  and  fragment  of  leaf, 
which  had  been  first  drawn  across  the  opening. 

This  was  evidently  a  mere  temporary  protec- 
tion of  the  burrow,  I  reasoned,  while  the  digger 
had  departed  in  search  of  prey,  and  my  surmise 
was  soon  proved  to  be  correct,  as  I  observed  the 
wasp,  with  bobbing  abdomen  and  flipping  wings, 
zigzagging  about  the  vicinity.  Presently  disap- 
pearing" beneath  a  small  plantain  leaf,  she  quickly 
emerged,  drawing  behind  her  not  a  spider,  as  in 
the  case  of  her  smaller  predecessor,  but  a  big' 
green  caterpillar,  nearly  double  her  own  length, 
and  as  large  around  as  a  slate-pencil — a  pecul- 
iar, pungent,  waspy  -  scented  species  of  "  puss- 
moth  "  larva,  which  is  found  on  the  elm,  and  with 
which  I  chanced  to  be  familiar. 

The  victim  being  now  ready  for  burial,  the 
wasp  sexton  proceeded  to  open  the  tomb.  Seiz- 
ing one  stone  after  another  in  her  widely  opened 
jaws,  they  were  scattered  right  and  left,  when,  with 
apparent  ease  and  prompt  despatch,  the  listless 
larva  was  drawn  towards  the  burrow,  into  whose 
depths  he  soon  disappeared.     Then,  after  a  short 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS  'J'J 

and  suggestive  interval,  followed  the  emergence 
of  the  wasp,  and  the  prompt  filling  in  of  the  requi- 
site earth  to  level  the  cavity,  much  as  already 
described,  after  which  the  wasp  took  wing  and 
disappeared,  presumably  bent  upon  a  repetition 
of  the  performance  elsewhere.  But  she  had  not 
simply  buried  this  caterpillar  victim,  nor  was  the 
caterpillar  dead,  for  these  wasp  cemeteries  are,  in 
truth,  living  tombs,  whose  apparently  dead  inmates 
are  simply  sleeping,  narcotized  by  the  venom  of 
the  wasp  sting,  and  thus  designed  to  afford  fresh 
living  food  for  the  young  wasp  grub,  into  w4iose 
voracious  care  they  are  committed. 

By  inserting  my  knife-blade  deep  into  the  soil 
in  the  neighborhood  of  this  burrow  I  readily  un- 
earthed the  buried  caterpillar,  and  disclosed  the 
ominous  egg  of  the  wasp  firmly  imbedded  in  its 
body.  The  hungry  larva  which  hatches  from  this 
egg  soon  reaches  maturity  upon  the  all-sufficient 
food  thus  stored,  and  before  many  weeks  is  trans- 
formed to  the  full-fledged,  long-waisted  wasp  like 
its  parent. 

The  disproportion  in  the  sizes  of  the  predatory 
wasps  and  their  insect  prey  is  indeed  astonishing. 
The  great  sand -hornet  selects  for  its  most  fre- 
quent victim  the  buzzing  cicada,  or  harvest-fly,  an 
insect  much  larger  than  itself,  and  which  it  carries 


78  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

off  to  its  long  sand  tunnels  by  short  flights  from 
successive  elevated  points,  such  as  the  limbs  of 
trees  and  summits  of  rocks,  to  which  it  repeatedly 
lugs  its  clumsy  prey.  In  the  present  instance  the 
contrast  between  the  slight  body  of  the  wasp  and 
the  plump  dimensions  of  the  caterpillar  was  even 
more  marked,  and  I  determined  to  ascertain  the 
proportionate  weight  of  victor  and  victim.  Con- 
structing a  tiny  pair  of  balances  with  a  dead  grass 
stalk,  thread,  and  two  disks  of  paper,  I  weighed 
the  wasp,  using  small  square  pieces  of  paper  of 
equal  size  as  my  weights.  I  found  that  the  wasp 
exactly  balanced  four  of  the  pieces.  Removing 
the  wasp  and  substituting  the  caterpillar,  I  pro- 
ceeded to  add  piece  after  piece  of  the  paper 
squares  until  I  had  reached  a  total  of  twenty- 
eight,  or  seven  times  the  number  required  by  the 
wasp,  before  the  scales  balanced.  Similar  experi- 
ments with  the  tiny  black  wasp  and  its  spider  vic- 
tim showed  precisely  the  same  proportion,  and 
the  ratio  was  once  increased  eight  to  one  in  the 
instance  of  another  species  of  slender  orange-and- 
black- bodied  digger  which  I  subsequently  found 
tugging  its  caterpillar  prey  upon  my  door -step 
patch. 

The  peculiar  feature  of  the  piling  of  stones  above 
the  completed  burrow  was  not  a  mere  individual  ac- 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS 


79 


complishment  of  my  vvire-waisted  wasp.  On  several 
occasions  since  I  have  observed  the  same  manoeuvre, 
which  is  doubtless  the  regular  procedure  with  this 

and  other  species. 
The  ^mallei  oi- 
ange-spotted  wasp 
just  alluded  to  in- 
dicated to  me  the 
location  of  her  den 
b}    pausing    suj^- 


gestivel}  in  front 
of  a  tiny  cairn.  In 
this  instance  a 
small  flat  stone, 
considerably  larger 
than  the  tunnel, 
had  been  laid  over 
the  opening,  and 
the  others  piled 
upon   it.      On   two 


8o  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

occasions  I  have  surprised  this  same  species  of 
wasp  industriously  engaged  in  the  selection  of 
a  suitable  flat  foundation  -  stone  with  which  to 
cover  her  burrow:  her  widely  extended  slender 
jaws  enable  her  to  grasp  a  pebble  nearly  a  third 
of  an  inch  in  width. 

In  my  opening  vignette  I  have  indicated  two 
other  door-step  neighbors  which  bore  my  indus- 
trious wasps  company  in  their  arena  of  one  square 
yard.  To  the  left,  surrounding  a  grass  stem,  will 
be  seen  an  object  which  is  unpleasantly  familiar 
to  most  country  folks  —  that  salivary  mass  vari- 
ously known  by  the  libellous  names  of  "snake- 
spit,"  "cow-spit,"  "  cuckoo -spit,"  "toad-spit,"  and 
"sheep -spit,"  or  the  inelegant  though  expressive 
substitute  of  "gobs."  The  foam -bath  pavilion  of 
the  "spume -bearer,"  with  his  glittering,  bubbly 
domicile  of  suds,  is  certainly  familiar  to  most  of 
my  readers ;  but  comparatively  few,  I  find,  have 
cared  to  investigate  the  mysterious  mass,  or  to 
learn  the  identity  of  the  proprietor  of  the  foamy 
lavatory. 

The  common  name  of  "  cow-spit,"  with  the  im- 
plied indignity  to  our  "  rural  divinity, '  becomes 
singularly  ludicrous  when  we  observe  not  only 
the  frequent  generous  display  of  the  suds  sam- 
ples, thousands  upon  thousands  in  a  single  small 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS 


8l 


meadow,  but  the  further  fact  that  each  mass  is  so 
exactly  landed  upon  the  central  stalk  of  grass  or 
other  plant  —  "spitted"  through  its  centre,  as  it 
were.  The  true  expectorator  is  within,  laved  in 
his  own  home-made  suds.  If  we  care  to  blow  or 
scrape  off  the  bubbles,  we  readily  disclose  him 
— a  green  speckled 
bug,  about  a  third  of 
an  inch  in  length  in 
larger  specimens,  with 
prominent  black  eyes, 
and  blunt,  wedge- 
shaped  body. 

In  the  appended 
sketch  I  have  indi- 
cated two  views  of 
him,  back  and  profile, 
creeping  upon  a  grass 
stalk.  A  glance  at 
the    insect    tells    the 

entomologist  just  where  to  place  him,  as  he  is 
plainly  allied  to  the  cicadce,  and  thus  belongs  to 
the  order  Hemiptera,  or  family  of  "  bugs,"  which 
implies,  among  other  things,  that  the  insect  pos- 
sesses a  "  beak  for  sucking."  To  what  extent  this 
tiny  soaker  is  possessed  of  such  a  beak  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  amount   of  moisture  with  whicli 

6 


82  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

he  manages  to  inundate  himself,  which  has  all 
been  withdrawn  from  the  stem  upon  which  he 
has  fastened  himself,  and  finally  exuded  from  the 
pores  of  his  body. 

This  is  the  spume-bearer,  Aprophora,  in  his  first 
or  larval  estate,  which  continues  for  a  few  weeks 
only.  Erelong  he  will  graduate  from  these  igno- 
minious surroundings,  and  we  shall  see  quite  an- 
other sort  of  creature — an  agile,  pretty  atom,  one 
of  which  I  have  indicated  in  flight,  its  upper 
wings  being  often  brilliantly  colored,  and  re- 
enforced  by  a  pair  of  hind  feet  which  emulate 
those  of  the  flea  in  their  powers  of  jumping, 
which  agility  has  won  the  insect  the  popular 
name  of  "  froghopper."  They  abound  in  the  late 
summer  meadow,  and  hundreds  of  them  may  be 
captured  by  a  few  sweeps  of  a  butterfly-net  among 
the  grass. 

My  other  remaining  claimant  for  notice,  shown 
upon  the  plant  at  the  right  margin  of  page  60,  is 
a  modest  and  inconspicuous  individual,  and  might 
readily  escape  attention,  save  that  a  more  intent 
observer  might  possibly  wonder  at  the  queer  lit- 
tle tubular  pinkish  blossoms  upon  the  plant  —  a 
rush — while  a  keen-eyed  botanist  would  instantly 
challenge  the  right  of  2i  j'uiicics  to  such  a  tubular 
blossom  at  all,  especially  at  seed  -  time,  and  thus 


DOOR-STEP   NEIGHBORS  83 

investigate.  But  the  entomologist  will  probably 
classify  this  peculiar  blossom  at  a  glance,  from 
its  family  resemblance  to  other  specimens  with 
which  he  is  familiar.  He  will  know,  for  instance, 
that  this  is  a  sort  of  peripatetic  or  nomadic  blos- 
som that  will  travel  about  on  the  plant,  with 
which  its  open  end  will  always  remain  in  close 
contact.  Many  of  the  individuals  are  seen  appar- 
ently growing  upright  out  of  the  rounded  seed- 
pod  of  the  rush ;  and  when  the  pink  or  speckled 
tube  finally  concludes  to  take  up  its  travels,  a 
clean  round  hole  marks  the  spot  of  its  tarrying, 
and  an  empty  globular  shell  tells  the  secret  of 
this  brief  attachment. 

For  this  petal  -  like  tube,  so  commonly  to  be 
seen  upon  the  little  rush  of  our  paths,  is,  in  truth, 
a  tiny  silken  case  enclosing  the  body  of  a  small 
larva — a  diminutive  psychid,  or  sack-bearer,  which 
I  have  not  chanced  to  see  described.  Only  the 
head  and  six  prolegs  of  the  occupant  ever  emerge 
from  its  case.  Dragging  its  house  along  upon 
the  plant,  it  attaches  the  open  mouth  of  the  sack 
close  to  the  green  seed-pod,  after  which  the  shell 
is  gnawed  through  at  the  point  of  contact,  and 
the  young  seeds  devoured  at  pleasure,  when  a 
new  journey  is  made  to  the  next  capsule,  and  thus 
until  the  maturity  of  the  larva.     At  this  time  the 


84 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


case  is  about  half  an  inch  in  length.  It  is  now 
firmly  attached  to  the  plant.  The  opening  is 
completely  spun  over  with  silk,  and  the  case 
becomes  a  cocoon  for  the  winter;  and  a  few  of 
these  September  cocoons  are  well  worth  gather- 
ing, if  only  to  see  the  queer  little  moth  which 
will  emerge  from  them  the  following  spring. 


A  QUEER  LITTLE  FAMILY  ON  THE 
BITTERSIVEET 


^^'V 


^j3ariS.^iiii*«  > 


^.N 


xS^"'^,^::?!^  <*^.iA^ 


c:^^ 


^^ 


A--3.- 


^m^    '     h(^\  i'' errs'""    ^  ^^^'^^ 

fir-;  yjS^^ittcxmed-^-^ 


N  a  recent  half- hour's  relaxation,  while 
comfortably  stretched  in  my  hammock 
upon  the  porch  of  my  country  studio, 
I  was  surprised  with  a  singular  enter- 
I  soon  found  myself  most  studiously 
Entwining  the  corner  post  of  the  piazza, 
and  extending  for  some  distance  along  the  eaves, 
a  luxuriant  vine  of  bittersweet  had  made  itself  at 
home.  The  currant-like  clusters  of  green  fruits, 
hanging  in  pendent  clusters  here  and  there,  were 
now  nearly  mature,  and  were  taking  on  their  golden 
hue, and  the  long, free  shoots  of  tender  growth  were 
reaching  out  for  conquest  on  right  and  left  in  all 
manner  of  graceful  curves  and  spirals.     Through 


tainment. 
engaged. 


88  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

an  opening  in  this  shadowy  foliage  came  a  glimpse 
of  the  hill-side  slope  across  the  valley  upon  whose 
verge  my  studio  is  perched,  and  as  my  eye  pene- 
trated this  pretty  vista  it  was  intercepted  by  what 
appeared  to  be  a  shadowed  portion  of  a  rose  branch 
crossing  the  opening  and  mingling  with  the  bit- 
tersweet stems.  In  my  idle  mood  I  had  for  some 
moments  so  accepted  it  without  a  thought,  and 
would  doubtless  have  left  the  spot  with  this  im- 
pression had  I  not  chanced  to  notice  that  this 
stem,  so  beset  with  conspicuous  thorns,  was  not 
consistent  in  its  foliage.  My  suspicions  aroused, 
I  suddenly  realized  that  my  thorny  stem  was  in 
truth  merely  a  bittersweet  branch  in  masquerade, 
and  that  I  had  been  "  fooled "  by  a  sly  midget 
who  had  been  an  old  -  time  acquaintance  of  my 
boyhood,  but  whom  I  had  long  neglected. 

Every  one  knows  the  climbing- bittersweet,  or 
"waxwork"  [Celastrus  scandens),  with  its  bright 
berries  hanging  in  clusters  in  the  autumn  copses, 
each  yellow  berry  having  now  burst  open  in  thin 
sections  and  exposed  the  scarlet -coated  seeds. 
Almost  any  good -sized  vine,  if  examined  early  in 
the  months  of  July  and  August,  will  show  us  the 
thorns,  and  more  sparingly  until  October,  and 
queer  thorns  they  are,  indeed  !  Here  an  isolated 
one,  there    two   or   three   together,  or  perhaps  a. 


A  QUEER  LITTLE  FAMILY  ON  THE  F.ITTERSWEET       89 

dozen  in  a  quaint  family  circle  around  the  stem, 
their  curved  points  all,  no  matter  how  far  sepa- 
rated, inclined  in  the  same  direction,  as  thorns 
properly  should  be.  Let  us  gently  invade  the 
little  colony  with  our  finger-tip.  Touch  one 
never  so  gently  and  it  instantly  disappears.  Was 
ever  thorn  so  deciduous?  And  now  observe  its 
fellows.  Here  one  slowly  glides  up  the  stem ;  an- 
other in  the  opposite  direction  ;  another  sideways. 
In  a  moment  more  the  whole  family  have  entirely 
disappeared,  as  if  by  hocus  -  pocus,  until  we  dis- 
cover, by  a  change  of  our  point  of  view,  that  they 
have  all  congregated  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
stem,  with  an  agility  which  would  have  done 
credit  to  the  proverbial  gray  squirrel. 

This  animated  thorn  is  about  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  lone,  and  dark  brown  in  color,  with  two  yel- 
lowish  spots  on  the  edge  of  its  back. 

Nor  is  this  all  the  witchery  of  this  bittersweet 
thorn.  It  is  well  worth  our  further  careful  study. 
Seen  collectively,  the  thorny  rose  branch  is  in- 
stantly suggested,  but  occasionally,  when  we  ob- 
serve a  single  isolated  specimen,  especially  in  the 
month  of  July,  he  will  certainly  masquerade  in  an 
entirely  new  guise.  Look !  quick.  Turn  your 
magnifier  hither  on  this  green  shoot.  No  thorn 
this.     Is   it   not   rather  a   whole    covey   of   quail, 


90 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


mother  and  young  creeping  along  the  vine  ?  Who 
would  ever  have  thought  of  a  thorn!  Turning  now 
to  our  original  group,  how  perfectly  do  they  take 
the  hint,  for  are  they  not  a  family  of  tiny  birds  with 
long  necks  and  swelling  breasts  and  drooping  tails, 
verily  like  an  autumn  brood  of  "  Bob  Whites"? 


L^vs^ 


'   C(^- 


A  QUEER  LITTLE   FAMILY  ON   THE   BITTERSWEET      9 1 

But  the  little  harlequin  is  as  wary  a  bird  as  he 
was  a  thorn  !  No  sooner  do  we  touch  his  head 
with  our  fino:er  than  with  an  audible  "  click  "  he  is 
off  on  a  most  agile  jump,  which  he  extends  with 
buzzing  wings,  and  is  even  now  perhaps  aping  a 
thorn  among  a  little  group  of  his  fellows  some- 
where amons:  the  laroer  bittersweet  branches. 

It  is  only  as  we  capture  one  of  the  little  pro- 
tean acrobats  between  our  finger  -  tips  and  ex- 
amine him  with  a  magnifier  that  we  can  really 
make  "  head  or  tail  "  of  his  queer  anatomy.  Even 
thus  enlarged  it  is  difficult  to  get  entirely  rid  of 
the  idea  of  a  bird.  I  have  shown  a  group  of  the 
insects  in  various  attitudes,  the  position  of  the 
eyes  alone  serving  as  a  starting-point  for  our 
comprehension  of  his  singular  make-up.  The  tall 
neck-like  or  thorn-like  prominence  is  then  seen  to 
be  a  mere  elongated  helmet,  which  is  prolonged 
into  a  steep  angle  behind,  so  as  to  cover  the  back 
of  the  creature  like  a  peaked  roof,  a  feature  from 
which  the  scientific  name  of  this  particular  group 
of  insects  is  derived,  Membracis,  meaning  sharp- 
edged,  the  sides  of  the  slope  being  covered  by  the 
close-fitting  wings,  which,  though  apparently  com- 
pact with  the  body  of  the  insect,  are  nevertheless 
always  available  for  instant  and  most  agile  flight. 
We  now  discover  two  pairs  of  stout  legs  just  be- 


92 


MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


neath  the  edge  of  the  wings,  a  third  more  slender 
pair  being  concealed  behind,  ready  for  immediate 
use  in  association  with  these  buzzing  wings  when 
the  whim  of  the  midget  prompts  it  to  leap. 

This  insect  is  the 
tree  -  hopper,   and    is 
but    one     of    man}^ 
equally  curious  and 
mimetic     species 
to  be  found 


among  the 


A, J"'  '- 


'■y 


smaller  branches  of  va- 
rious trees  and  shrubs. 
Our  laro^est  membra- 
cis  is  to  be  seen  — with 
difficulty  —  on  the  ter- 
minal twigs  of  the  lo-  » 
cust  -  tree,    its     outlines 

so  exactly  imitating  the  thorny  growths  of  the 
branch  as  to  escape  detection  even  by  the  closest 
scrutiny.  Another  remarkable  species  is  a  pro- 
tege of  the  oak,  so  closely  simulating  the  warty 
bark   of   the  smaller   branches   upon   which   it   is 


A  QUEER  LITTLE  FAMILY  ON    THE   BITTERSWEET      93 

found  that  our  eyes  may  rest  upon  it  repeatedly 
without  recognizing  it.  The  Hfe  history  of  these 
singular  insects  is  quite  similar,  and  is  soon  told. 
The  membracis  belongs  to  the  tribe  of  "  Bugs," 
Hemiptera,  which  implies  that  it  possesses  a  beak 
instead  of  jaws,  by  which  it  sucks  the  sap  of 
plants,  precisely  like  the  aphis,  or  plant-louse. 
This  tiny  beak  we  can  readily  distinguish  bent 
beneath  the  body  of  our  bittersweet  hopper.  In- 
serting it  deep  into  the  succulent  bark,  the  para- 
site remains  for  hours  as  motionless  as  the  thorn 
it  imitates,  the  low^er  outline  of  its  body  hugging 
close  against  the  bark.  The  curious  suggestion 
of  the  thorn  is  produced  not  only  by  the  outline, 
but  by  the  curious  fact  that  the  hopper  never  sits 
across  the  twig,  but  always  in  the  direction  of  its 
length ;  and,  what  is  more,  the  projecting  point  of 
the  thorax  is  always  directed  towards  the  end  of 
the  branch,  or  direction  of  growth.  It  is  no  easy 
thing  even  for  the  casual  botanist  to  determine 
this  nice  point  in  a  given  segment  of  a  bitter- 
sweet branch  placed  in  his  hand,  the  position  of 
the  chance  leaf  or  leaf  scar  beino-  his  only  Qruide. 
But  the  Mcmbi'acis  biuotata  rarely — indeed  never, 
so  far  as  I  have  examined  —  makes  a  mistake. 
Thus  the  wandering  spray  of  bittersweet,  recurve 
and  twist  upon  itself  as   it   may,  will  always  dis- 


94 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


close  the  little  hopper  or  colony  of  them  headed 
for  its  tip. 

But  I  have  omitted  to  mention  one  singular 
feature  which  is  the  usual  accompaniment  of  my 
group  of  hoppers,  and  is,  indeed,  the  most  con- 
spicuous sign  of  their  presence  on  any  given 
shrub.  In  the  cut  below  I  have  indicated  a  short 
section  of  a  bittersweet  branch  as  it  commonly 
appears,  the  twig  apparently  beset  with  tiny  tufts 
of  cotton,  occasionally  so  numerous  as  to  present 
a  continuous  white  mass,  usually  on  the  lower 
side  of  the  branch,  where  its  direction  is  hori- 
zontal. They  are  thus  easily  seen  from  below, 
and  a  closer  examination  will  always  reveal  one 
or  more  of  the  black  animated  thorns  in  their 
immediate    vicinity,    suggesting    the    responsible 


A  QUEER  LITTLE  FAMILY  ON  THE  BITTERSWEET      95 

source.  These  tufts  are  pure  white,  a  Httle  over 
an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  length,  and  semicircular 
in  vertical  outline.  The  natural  presumption  is 
the  idea  of  maternity,  the  mother  hopper  guard- 
ing her  bundles  of  white  eggs,  or  her  infant  hop- 
pers, perhaps,  snugly  tucked  up  in  their  downy 
swaddlino- clothes.  But  a  closer  examination 
completely  dispels  this  illusion.  Instead  of  the 
supposed  fluffy  cotton,  we  now  discover  the 
white  substance  to  be  of  firm  thouo^h  somewhat 
sticky  consistency,  its  surface,  moreover,  beautiful- 
ly ridged  from  base  to  summit  in  parallel  rounded 
flutinos  which  meet  and  interfold  like  a  braid 
along  the  summit.  If  with  a  sharp  knife  we  now 
cut  downward  through  and  across  the  mass,  we 
find  our  tuft  to  be  a  mere  frothy  shell  containing 
two  hollow  compartments,  with  a  thin  central  par- 
tition extending  through  the  whole  length  of  the 
cavity.  But  there  is  no  sign  of  an  egg  or  other 
life  to  be  disclosed  anywhere,  either  in  its  sub- 
stance or  its  concealment.  What,  then,  is  the 
ofifice  of  this  tiny  fragile  house  of  congealed  foam, 
with  its  snowy  aerated  structure,  its  double  arched 
chambers,  its  corrugated  walls  and  ceilings,  and 
missing  tenant  or  host  ?  Such  was  the  riddle 
which  it  propounded  to  me,  and  guided  by  some 
previous  knowledge  of  the  habits  of  allied  insects, 


96  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

I  was    soon  enabled  to  witness  a  solution   of  at 
least  a  part  of  its  mystery. 

This  little  thorn-like  tree-hopper  and  all  of  its 
queer  harlequin  tribe  are  near  relatives  to  the 
buzzing  cicada,  or  harvest-fly,  whose  whizzing  din 
in  the  dog-days  has  won  it  the  popular  misnomer 
of  "  locust." 

To  the  average  listener  this  insect  is  a  mere 
"  wandering  voice  and  a  mystery,"  and  its  singu- 
lar form,  wide  prominent  eyes,  glassy  wings,  and 
double  drums  are  always  a  surprise  to  the  tyro 
who  first  identifies  the  grotesque  as  his  well- 
known  "  locust."  Its  musical  accomplishments 
during  this  brief  period  of  its  life  are  known  to 
all,  but  few  have  cared  to  interest  themselves  in 
the  early  history  of  the  singer,  ere  it  perfected  its 
musical  resources  "  for  the  delight  of  man."  But 
the  naturalist,  and  especially  the  arboriculturist 
and  fruit-grower,  know  to  their  cost  of  other 
tricks  of  the  cicada,  or  rather  of  Mrs.  Cicada, 
immortalized  by  Zenarchus  the  Rhodian  as  his 
"  noiseless  wife  " — 

"  Happ3'  the  cicadas'  lives, 
Since  they  all  have  noiseless  wives." 

I   have   alluded   to   the   egg   of  the  cicada  "  in- 
serted in  the  bark  of  a  twio;."     This  act  is  accom- 


A  QUEER   LITTLE  FAMILY  ON  THE  BITTERSWEET      97 

plishecl  by  a  knife-like  ovipositor,  which  Hterally 
o-ouges  a  deep  gash  into  the  tender  wood  of  vari- 
ous twigs,  a  number  of  the  eggs  being  implanted 
in    its    depths,   often    causing    the    death    of   the 
branch.     Shortly  after  hatching,  the  young  cica- 
das leap  for  the  ground,  and  burrowing  beneath 
the    surface,  remain    for    a   period    varying   from 
three  to    seventeen   years,  according   to   the   spe- 
cies, to  complete  their  transformations.     Now  the 
habits  of  my  little  tree-hopper  are  somewhat  mod- 
elled after  its  big  cousin.     Knowing  that  the  lit- 
tle insect  was  provided  with  a  keen-edged  oviposi- 
tor, and   was   in   the   habit   of    thrusting    its   tiny 
eo-crs   beneath    the    bark,  and    realizing,  too,  that 
these   strange  tufts  were  of  course  in  some  way 
connected  with  the  maternal  instinct,  I  was  led  to 
investio-ate.     Selectinor  a  branch  where  the  tufts 
and  hoppers  seemed   most  prolific,  I  brought  my 
magnifying-glass  to  bear  upon  them  at  a  respect- 
ful  distance.     Was   ever   actual   thorn  more  mo- 
tionless or  non-committal  than  most  of  these? — 
their    under   surfaces   hugging  close   against  the 
bark,  their  telltale  feet  closely  withdrawn,  and  all 
their  pointed  helmets  inclined  in  the  same  paral- 
lel direction.     One  after  another  of  the  sly  litde 
family  was  examined  without  a  revelation.     Not 
until  I  had  reached  the  upper  limit  of  the  group 


7 


98  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

did  I  get  any  encouragement.  Here  I  discovered 
one  of  the  midgets  in  a  new  position,  its  pointed 
helmet  inclined  farther  downward,  and  its  other 
extremity  correspondingly  raised,  so  that  I  could 
see  beneath  its  body.  I  now  observed  what  at 
first  appeared  to  be  the  hind  leg  of  the  farther 
side  of  the  body  protruding  beneath,  but  in  an- 
other moment  noted  my  error,  and  saw  that  its 
sharp  point  had  penetrated  the  bark,  into  which 
it  soon  sank  quite  deeply,  and  I  realized  that  the 
ovipositor  was  now  conducting  its  tiny  eggs  into 
the  cambium  layer  of  the  bark.  Without  waiting 
for  this  particular  individual  to  finish  her  labors, 
which  might  be  extended  for  hours  for  aught  I 
knew,  I  turned  my  glass  upon  its  nearest  neigh- 
bor, and  a  most  accommodating  specimen  she 
proved,  disclosing  all  the  mysteries  of  the  little 
froth  house,  its  strange  material,  and  unique 
method  of  construction.  What  I  saw  reminded 
me  irresistibly  of  the  technique  of  the  cake-frost- 
ing art  of  the  fancy  baker,  with  its  flowing  tube 
of  white  condiment,  and  its  following  tracery  of 
questionable  design  in  high  relief.  This  accom- 
modating specimen  had  apparently  just  com- 
pleted her  egg -laying,  or  had  perhaps  just  filled 
one  nest ;  and  while  her  attitude  was  precisely 
similar  to  that  of  her  neighbor,  I  noticed  a  tiny 


A  QUEER  LITTLE  FAMILY  ON  THE  BITTERSWEET      99 

ball  of  glistening  froth  at  the  tip  of  the  ovipositor. 
This  was  attached  to  the  bark  by  a  touch,  and 
from  this  starting-point  the  construction  of  the 
crli^tenincr  house  was  continued,  the  apex  of  the 
ovipositor  pouring  out  its  endless  puffy  roll  of 
aerated  cement,  which  seemed  to  set  as  soon  as 

laid. 

And  what  a  convenient  implement   this   for  a 
froth-house  builder  who  is  compelled  to  work  be- 
hind her  back— mortar-feeder,  trowel,  darby,  com- 
pass, and  level   all   in  one !     Beginning  with  the 
first   touch  of   the  cement,  the  flowing  point  de- 
scribes a  very  small  half-circle  to  the  right,  again 
meetino-  the  bark.     It  is  now  carried  inward  and 
upward,  describing  a  very  close  circle  with  scarce- 
ly any  space  intervening,  a  similar  circle  being  re- 
peated on  the  left  side.     A  new  tier  is  then  be- 
o-un  in   the  same  manner,  only  this  time  a  little 
larger    in    the   sweep,   and    leaving  a   perceptible 
opening  at  the  right  as  the  central  wall  is  carried 
upward    with    slightly    decreased    material.       Re- 
turning  down   the   central  wall   again,  the   wdiite 
coil  is  carried  to  the  left  along  the  bark,  and  up 
again  on  the  other  outer  edge,  until  it  once  more 
meets  its  fellow  at  the  ridge-pole,  where  the  two 
coils  appear  to  interlock  as  in  a  braid.     And  thus 
the   little  builder  continues,  enlarging  the   cavity 


lOO 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


with  each  circuit,  until  the  full  height  is  reached, 
and  then  decreasing  proportionately  until  the 
glistening  braided  dome  is  tapered  off  again 
aofainst  the  bark. 

Now  what  is  the  object  of  this  frothy  pavilion  ? 
The  life  history  of  the  insect,  in  contrast  to  that 
of  the  cicada,  will  perhaps  throw  a  little  light  on 


that  question.  In  the  cicada,  as  I  have  shown, 
the  eggs  are  inserted  in  the  bark,  but  the  young, 
hatching  about  six  wxeks  later,  immediately  for- 
sake the  parent  tree  and  enter  the  ground.  But 
the  young  of  our  bittersweet  membracis  are  not 
thus  fickle,  the  entire  life  of  the  insect  being  spent 
on  the  plant.  Moreover,  its  eggs  are  laid  in  late 
summer,  and    do    not   hatch    until    the   following 


A  QUEER  LITTLE  FAMILY   ON   THE  BITTERSWEET    lOI 

spring.  What,  then,  is  this  canopy  of  the  tree- 
hopper  but  the  provision  of  a  thoughful  mother,  a 
pavilion  about  her  offspring  as  a  shelter  through 
the  winter  storms?  In  early  July  the  tiny  hop- 
pers emerge  from  their  egg-cases,  and  presumably 
creep  out  from  their  luminous  domicile,  and  later 
on  in  the  season  these  broods  of  varying  numbers 
and  all  sizes  are  to  be  seen  among  the  young 
stems  of  the  plant,  their  beaks  inserted,  their 
pointed  heads  invariably  in  the  same  direction — 
towards  the  top  of  the  branch.  Even  though  in 
flight  one  of  the  midgets  is  seen  to  alight  in  vio- 
lence to  the  rule,  he  instantly  recognizes  his  mis- 
take, and  quickly  glides  round  to  the  orthodox 
position. 

This  curious  insect  is  chiefly  confined  to  the 
bittersweet,  though  he  is  occasionally  found  in  the 
company  of  a  much  bigger  cousin  of  his  on  the 
branches  of  the  locust,  where  these  same  telltale 
corrugated  frothy  pavilions  are  often  seen  to 
clothe  the  young  twigs  in  their  white  tufts,  the 
similar  product  of  the  larger  species,  which  thus 
also  presumably  spends  its  entire  life  upon  the 
locust-tree. 


THE  PVELCOMES   OF  THE  FLOPVERS 


V 


.^^k 


IT  is  now  some  thirty  years  since 
the  scientil 


tific  world  was  startled 
by  the  publication  of  that  won- 
derful volume,  "  The  Fertilization 
of  Orchids,"  by  Charles  Darwin ; 
for  though  slightly  anticipated 
by  his  previous  work,  "  Origin  of 
Species,"  this  volume  was  the 
first  important  presentation  of 
the  theory  of  cross -fertilization 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and 
is  the  one  that  is  primarily  associated  with  the 
subject  in  the  popular  mind.  The  interpretation 
and  elucidation  of  the  mysteries  which  had  so 
long  lain  hidden  within  those  strange  fiowers, 
whose  eccentric  forms  had  always  excited  the 
curiosity  and  awe  alike  of  the  botanical  frater- 
nity and  the  casual  observer,  came  almost  like 
a  divine  rev^elation  to  every  thoughtful  reader  of 
his  remarkable  pages.     Blossoms  heretofore  con- 


io6 


MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


sidered  as  mere  caprices  and  grotesques  were  now 
shown  to  be  eloquent  of  deep  divine  intention, 
their  curious  shapes  a  demonstrated  expression  of 
welcome  and  hospitality  to  certain  insect  coun- 
terparts upon  whom  their  very  perpetuation  de- 
pended. 

Thus  primarily  identified  with  the  orchid,  it 
was  perhaps  natural  and  excusable  that  popular 
prejudice  should  have  associated  the  subject  of 
cross-fertilization  with  the  orchid  alone ;  for  it  is 
even  to-day  apparently  a  surprise  to  the  average 
mind  that  almost  any  casual  wild  flower  will  re- 
veal a  floral  mechanism  often  quite  as  astonishing 
as  those  of  the  orchids  described  in  Darwin's  vol- 
ume. Let  us  orlance,  for  instance,  at  the  row  of 
stamens  below  (Fig.  i),  selected  at  random  from 
different  flowers,  with  one  exception  wild  flowers. 
Almost  everybody  knows  that  the  function  of  the 
stamen  is  the  secretion  of  pollen.  This  function, 
however,  has  really  no  reference  whatever  to  the 
external  form  of  the  stamen.     Why,  then,  this  re- 


Fig.  I 


THE    WELCOMKS    OF   THE    FLOWERS  lO/ 

markable  divergence  ?  Here  is  an  anther  with 
its  two  cells  connected  lengthwise,  and  opening  at 
the  sides,  perhaps  balanced  at  the  centre  upon  the 
top  of  its  stalk  or  filament,  or  laterally  attached 
and  continuous  with  it  ;  here  is  another  opening 
by  pores  at  the  tip,  and  armed  with  two  or  four 
long  horns;  here  is  one  with  a  feathery  tail.  In 
another  the  twin  cells  are  globular  and  closely  as- 
sociated, while  in  its  neighbor  they  are  widely 
divergent.  Another  is  club-shaped,  and  opens  on 
either  side  by  one  or  more  upraised  lids ;  and 
here  is  an  example  with  its  two  very  unequal  cells 
separated  by  a  long  curved  arm  or  connective, 
which  is  hinged  at  the  tip  of  its  filament ;  and  the 
procession  might  be  continued  across  two  pages 
with  equal  variation. 

As  far  back  as  botanical  history  avails  us  these 
forms  have  been  the  same,  each  true  to  its  partic- 
ular species  of  flower,  each  with  an  underlying 
purpose  which  has  a  distinct  and  often  simple  ref- 
erence to  its  form ;  and  yet,  incredible  as  it  now 
seems  to  us,  the  botanist  of  the  past  has  been  con- 
tent with  the  simple  technical  description  of  the 
feature,  without  the  slightest  conception  of  its 
meaning,  dismissing  it,  perhaps,  with  passing  com- 
ment upon  its  "  eccentricity  "  or  "  curious  shape." 
Indeed,  prior  to   Darwin's  time  it  might  be  said 


I08  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

that  the  flower  was  as  a  voice  in  the  wilderness. 
In  1735,  it  is  true,  faint  premonitions  of  its  pres- 
ent message  began  to  be  heard  through  their 
first  though  faltering  interpreter,  Christian  Conrad 
Sprengel,  a  German  botanist  and  school-master, 
who  upon  one  occasion,  while  looking  into  the 
chalice  of  the  wild  geranium,  received  an  inspira- 
tion which  led  him  to  consecrate  his  life  thence- 
forth to  the  solution  of  the  floral  hieroglyphics. 
Sprengel,  it  may  be  said,  was  the  first  to  exalt 
the  flower  from  the  mere  status  of  a  botanical 
specimen. 

This  philosophic  observer  was  far  in  advance 
of  his  age,  and  to  his  long  and  arduous  researches 
— a  basis  built  upon  successively  by  Andrew^ 
Knight,  Kohlreuter,  Herbert,  Darwin,  Lubbock, 
Mliller,  and  others  —  we  owe  our  present  divina- 
tion of  the  flowers. 

In  order  to  fully  appreciate  this  present  con- 
trast, it  is  well  to  briefly  trace  the  progress,  step 
by  step,  from  the  consideration  of  the  mere  ana- 
tomical and  physiological  specimen  of  the  earlier 
botanists  to  the  conscious  blossom  of  to-day,  with 
its  embodied  hopes,  aspirations,  and  welcome  com- 
panionships. 

Most  of  my  readers  are  familiar  with  the  gen- 
eral construction  of  a  fiower,  but  in  order  to  in- 


THE   WELCOMES   OE   THE   ELOWEKS  109 

sure  such  comprehension  it  is  well,  perhaps,  to 
freshen  our  memory  by  reference  to  the  accom- 
panying diagram  (Fig.  2)  of  an  abstract  flower, 
the  various  parts  being 

sh'gma. 

indexed.  "%? 

';...s*ye  pollen. 

The  calyx  usually  en-  ^""^^        i\        ^    ^ 

closes  the  bud,  and  may     ^--C^x   V  fyru]  / yyZ^ 
be  tubular,  or  composed     ^^^^''""^  "^^^v^^  ^-^^^ 
ot  separate  leaves  or  se-  '"'"'      ^^  ,'^"^'' 

pals,  as  in  a  rose.     The  (' 

corolla,  or  colored   por-  ^ 

tion,  may  consist  of  several  petals,  as  in  the  rose, 
or  of  a  single  one,  as  in  the  morning-glory.  At 
the  centre  is  the  pistil,  one  or  more,  which  forms 
the  ultimate  fruit.  The  pistil  is  divided  into  three 
parts,  ovary,  style,  and  stigma.  Surrounding  the 
pistil  are  the  stamens,  few  or  many,  the  anther  at 
the  extremity  containing  the  powdery  pollen. 

Although  these  physiological  features  have  been 
familiar  to  observ^ers  for  thousands  of  years,  the 
several  functions  involved  were  scarcely  dreamed 
of  until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period. 

In  the  writings  of  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans 
we  find  suggestive  references  to  sexes  in  flowers, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  that  the  existence  of  sex  was  generally 
recognized. 


no 


MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


In  1682  Nehemias  Grew  announced  to  the  sci- 
entific world  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  pollen 
of  a  flower  to  reach  the  stigma  or  summit  of  the 
pistil  in  order  to  insure  the  fruit. 
I  have  indicated  his  claim  picto- 


Fig.  3 

rially  at  A  (Fig.  3),  in  the  series  of  historical  pro- 
gression. So  radical  was  this  "  theory  "  considered 
that  it  precipitated  a  lively  discussion  among  the 
wiseheads,  which  was  prolonged  for  fifty  years,  and 
only  finally  settled  by  Linnzeus,  who  reaffirmed  the 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE    FLOWERS  III 

facts  declared  by  Grew,  and  verified  them  by  such 
absolute  proof  that  no  further  doubts  could  be  en- 
tertained. The  inference  of  these  early  authorities 
regarding  this  process  of  pollination  is  perfectly 
clear  from  their  statements.  The  stamens  in  most 
flowers  were  seen  to  surround  the  pistil,  "  and  of 
course  the  presumption  was  that  they  naturally 
shed  the  pollen  upon  the  stigma,"  as  illustrated  at 
B  in  my  series.  The  construction  of  most  flowers 
certainly  seemed  designed  to  fulfil  this  end.  But 
there  were  other  considerations  which  had  been 
ignored,  and  the  existence  of  color,  fragrance,  honey, 
and  insect  association  still  continued  to  challenore 
the  wisdom  of  the  more  philosophic  seekers.  How 
remarkable  were  some  of  those  early  speculations 
in  regard  to  "  honey,"  or,  more  properly,  nectar ! 
Patrick  Blair,  for  instance,  claimed  that  "  honey 
absorbed  the  pollen,"  and  thus  fertilized  the  ovary. 
Pontidera  thought  that  its  office  was  to  keep  the 
ovary  in  a  moist  condition.  Another  botanist  ar- 
gued that  it  was  "  useless  material  thrown  off  in 
process  of  growth."  Krunitz  noted  that  "  bee- 
visited  meadows  were  most  healthy,"  and  his  in- 
ference was  that  "honey  was  injurious  to  the 
flowers,  and  that  bees  were  useful  in  carrying  it 
off"!  The  great  Linn^us  confessed  himself  puz- 
zled as  to  its  function. 


112  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

For  a  period  of  fifty  years  the  progress  of  inter- 
pretation was  completely  arrested.  The  flowers 
remained  without  a  champion  until  17S7,  when 
Sprengel  began  his  investigations,  based  upon  the 
unsolved  mysteries  of  color  and  markings  of  pet- 
als, fragrance,  nectar,  and  visiting  insects.  The 
prevalent  idea  of  the  insect  being  a  mere  idle  ac- 
cessory to  the  flower  found  no  favor  with  him. 
He  chose  to  believe  that  some  deep  plan  must  lie 
beneath  this  universal  association.  At  the  incep- 
tion of  this  conviction  he  chanced  to  observe  in 
the  flower  of  the  wild  geranium  {G.  sylvaticum)  a 
fact  which  only  an  inspired  vision  could  have 
detected — that  the  minute  hairs  at  the  base  of  the 
petal,  while  disclosing  the  nectar  to  insects,  com- 
pletely protected  it  from  rain.  Investigation 
showed  the  same  conditions  in  many  other 
flowers,  and  the  inference  he  drew  was  further 
strengthened  by  the  remarkable  discovery  of  his 
"  honey  -  guides  "  in  a  long  list  of  blossoms,  by 
which  the  various  decorations  of  spots,  rings,  and 
converging  veins  upon  the  petals  indicated  the 
location  of  the  nectar. 

His  labors  were  now  concentrated  on  the  work 
of  interpretation,  until  at  length  his  researches, 
covering  a  period  of  two  or  three  years,  were 
given  to  the  world.     In  a  volume  bearing  the  fol- 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE    FLOWERS  II3 

lowing  victorious  title,  "  The  Secrets  of  Nature  in 
Forms  and  Fertilization  of  Flowers  Discovered," 
he  presented  a  vast  chronicle  of  astonishing  facts. 
The  previous  discoveries  of  Grew  and  Linnceus 
were  right  so  far  as  they  went — viz.,  "  the  pollen 
must  reach  the  stigma"  —  but  those  learned  au- 
thorities had  missed  the  true  secret  of  the  process. 
In  proof  of  which  Sprengel  showed  that  in  a  great 
many  flowers,  as  I  have  shown  at  C(Fig.  3),  this  de- 
posit of  pollen  is  naturally  impossible,  owing  to  the 
relative  position  of  the  floral  parts,  and  that  the 
pollen  could  not  reach  the  stigma  except  by  artifi- 
cial aid.     He  then  announced  his  startling  theory: 

1.  "  Flowers  are  fertilized  by  insects." 

2.  Insects  in  approaching  the  nectar  brush  the 
pollen  from  the  anthers  with  various  hairy  parts 
of  their  bodies,  and  in  their  motions  convey  it  to 
the  stigma. 

But  Sprengel's  seeming  victory  was  doomed  to 
be  turned  to  defeat.  The  true  "secret"  was  yet 
unrevealed  in  his  pages.  He  had  given  a  poser 
to  Linneeus  (C),  yet  his  own  work  abounded  with 
similar  strange  inconsistencies,  which,  while  being 
scarcely  admitted  by  himself,  or  ingeniously  ex- 
plained, were  nevertheless  fatal  to  the  full  recog- 
nition of  his  wonderful  researches.  For  seventy 
years  his  book  lay  almost  unnoticed. 


114  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

"Let  US  not  underrate  the  value  of  a  fact;  it 
will  one  day  flower  in  a  truth."  The  defects  in 
Sprengel's  work  were,  after  all,  not  actual  defects. 
The  error  lay  simply  in  his  interpretation  of  his 
carefully  noted  facts.  As  Hermann  Mialler  has 
said,  "  Sprengel's  investigations  afford  an  example 
of  how  even  work  that  is  rich  in  acute  observa- 
tion and  happy  interpretation  may  remain  inoper- 
ative if  the  idea  at  its  foundation  is  defective.'* 
What,  then,  was  the  flaw  in  Sprengel's  work  ? 
Simply  that  he  had  seen  but  /la//  the  "  secret " 
which  he  claimed  to  have  "discovered."  Starting 
to  prove  that  insects  fertilize  the  flowers,  his  care- 
fully observed  facts  only  served  to  demonstrate  in 
many  cases  the  reverse — that  insects  could  not  fer- 
tilize flowers  in  the  manner  he  had  declared.  He 
was  met  at  every  hand,  for  instance,  by  floral  prob- 
lems such  as  are  shown  at  E  and  F,  where  the 
pollen  and  the  stigma  in  the  same  flower  matured 
at  different  periods;  and  even  though  he  recog- 
nized and  admitted  that  the  pollen  must  in  many 
cases  be  transferred  from  one  flower  to  another, 
he  failed  to  divine  that  such  was  actually  the 
common  vital  plan  involved.  It  may  readily  be 
imagined  that  his  great  work  precipitated  an  in- 
tense and  prolonged  controversy ,  and  incited 
emulous    investigation    by    the    botanists    of    his 


THE    WELCOMES    OF   THE    FLOWERS  II5 

time.  Though  a  few  of  the  more  advanced  of  his 
followers,  among  them  Andrew  Knight  (1799), 
Kohlreuter  (181 1),  Herbert  (1837),  Gartner  (1844), 
clearly  recognized  the  principle  and  foreshadowed 
the  later  theory  of  cross -fertilization,  it  was  not 
until  the  inspired  insight  of  Darwin,  as  voiced  in 
his  "  Origin  of  Species,'*  contemplated  these  strange 
facts  and  inconsistencies  of  Sprengel  that  their 
full  significance  and  actual  value  were  discovered 
and  demonstrated,  and  his  remarkable  book,  for- 
gotten for  seventy  years,  at  last  appreciated  for 
its  true  worth.  Alas  for  the  irony  of  fate!  Un- 
der Darwin's  interpretation  the  very  "  defects " 
which  had  rendered  Sprengel's  work  a  failure 
now  became  the  absolute  witness  of  a  deeper 
truth  which  Sprengel  had  failed  to  discern.  One 
more  short  step  and  he  had  reached  the  goal. 
But  this  last  step  was  reserved  for  the  later  seer. 
He  took  the  fatal  double  problem  of  Sprengel — 
as  shown  at  E  and  F,  to  express  the  consumma- 
tion pictorially  —  and  by  the  simple  drawing  of  a 
line,  as  it  were,  as  indicated  between  G  and  H,  in- 
stantly reconciled  all  the  previous  perplexities  and 
inconsistencies,  thus  demonstrating  the  funda- 
mental plan  involved  in  floral  construction  to  be 
not  merely  "  insect  fertilization,"  the  fatal  postulate 
assumed   by   Sprengel,  but    ^r^j^-- fertilization  —  a 


Il6  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

fact  which,  singularly  enough,  the  latter's  own 
pages  proved  without  his  suspicion. 

Thus  we  see  the  four  successive  steps  in  pro- 
gressive knowledge,  from  Grew  in  1682,  Linnaeus, 
1735,  Sprengel,  1787,  to  Darwin,  1857-1858,  and 
realize  with  astonishment  that  it  has  taken  over 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  for  humanity 
to  learn  this  apparently  simple  lesson,  which  for 
untold  centuries  has  been  noised  abroad  on  the 
murmuring  wings  of  every  bee  in  the  meadow, 
and  demonstrated  in  almost  every  fiower. 

This  infinite  field  now  open  before  him,  Dar- 
win began  his  investigations,  and  the  whole  world 
knows  his  triumphs.  He  has  been  followed  by  a 
host  of  disciples,  to  whom  his  books  have  come  as 
an  inspiration  and  ennobling  impulse.  Hilde- 
brand,  Delpino,  Axell,  Lubbock,  and,  latest  and 
perhaps  most  conspicuous,  Hermann  Miiller,  to 
whom  the  American  reader  is  especially  referred. 
"  The  Fertilization  of  Flowers,"  by  this  most 
scholarly  and  indefatigable  chronicler,  presents  the 
most  complete  compendium  and  bibliography  of  the 
literature  on  the  subject  that  have  yet  appeared. 
Even  to  the  unscientific  reader  it  will  prove  full  of 
revelations  of  this  awe-inspiring  interassociation 
and  interdependence  of  the  flower  and  the  insect. 

Many  years  ago  the  grangers  of  Australia  de- 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   TFIE   FLOWERS  I17 

termined  to  introduce  our  red  clover  into  that 
country,  the  plant  not  being  native  there.  They 
imported  American  seed,  and  sowed  it,  with  the 
result  of  a  crop  luxuriant  in  foliage  and  bloom, 
but  not  a  seed  for  future  sowing!  Why?  Be- 
cause the  American  bumblebee  had  not  been  con- 
sulted in  the  transaction.  The  clover  and  the 
bee  are  inseparable  counterparts,  and  the  plant 
refuses  to  become  reconciled  to  the  separation. 
Upon  the  introduction  and  naturalization  of  the 
American  bumblebee,  however,  the  transported 
clover  became  reconciled  to  its  new  habitat,  and 
now  flourishes  in  fruition  as  well  as  bloom. 

Botany  and  entomology  must  henceforth  go 
hand-in-hand.  The  flower  must  be  considered  as 
an  embodied  welcome  to  an  insect  affinity,  and  all 
sorts  of  courtesies  prevail  among  them  in  the  re- 
ception of  their  invited  guests.  The  banquet 
awaits,  but  various  singular  ceremonies  are  en- 
joined between  the  cup  and  the  lip,  the  stamens 
doing  the  hospitalities  in  time -honored  forms  of 
etiquette.  Flora  exacts  no  arbitrar)^  customs. 
Each  flower  is  a  law  unto  itself.  And  how  ex- 
pressive, novel,  and  eccentric  are  these  social  cus- 
toms !  The  garden  salvia,  for  instance,  slaps  the 
burly  bumblebee  upon  the  back  and  marks  him 
for  her  own  as  he  is  ushered  in  to  the  feast.     The 


Il8  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

mountain-laurel  welcomes  the  twilight  moth  with 
an  impulsive  multiple  embrace.  The  desmodium 
and  genesta  celebrate  their  hospitality  with  a 
joke,  as  it  were,  letting  their  threshold  fall  be- 
neath the  feet  of  the  caller,  and  startling  him  with 
an  explosion  and  a  cloud  of  yellow  powder,  sug- 
gesting the  day  pyrotechnics  of  the  Chinese. 
The  prickl3^-pear  cactus  encloses  its  buzzing  vis- 
itor in  a  golden  bower,  from  which  he  must 
emerge  at  the  roof  as  dusty  as  a  miller.  The 
barberry,  in  similar  vein,  lays  mischievous  hold 
of  the  tongue  of  its  sipping  bee,  and  I  fancy,  in 
his  early  acquaintance,  before  he  has  learned  its 
ways,  gives  him  more  of  a  welcome  than  he  had 
bargained  for.  The  evening  primrose,  with  out- 
stretched filaments,  hangs  a  golden  necklace  about 
the  welcome  murmuring  noctuid,  while  the  vari- 
ous orchids  excel  in  the  ingenuity  of  their  saluta- 
tions. Here  is  one  which  presents  a  pair  of  tiny 
clubs  to  the  sphinx-moth  at  its  threshold,  gluing 
them  to  its  bulging  eyes.  Another  attaches  simi- 
lar tokens  to  the  tongues  of  butterflies,  while  the 
cypripedium  speeds  its  parting  guest  with  a  stick- 
ing-plaster smeared  all  over  its  back.  And  so 
we  might  continue  almost  indefinitely.  From  the 
stand-point  of  frivolous  human  etiquette  we  smile, 
perhaps,  at  customs  apparently  so  whimsical  and 


THE   WELCOMES    OF   THE   FLOWERS  I  I9 

unusual,  forgetting  that  such  a  smile  may  partake 
somewhat  of  irreverence.  For  what  are  they  all 
but  the  divinely  imposed  conditions  of  interasso- 
ciation  ?  say,  rather,  interdependence,  between  the 
flower  and  the  insect,  which  is  its  ordained  com- 
panion, its  faithful  messenger,  often  its  sole  spon- 
sor—  the  meadows  murmuring  with  an  intricate 
and  eloquent  system  of  intercommunings  beside 
which  the  most  inextricable  tangle  of  metropoli- 
tan electrical  currents  is  not  a  circumstance. 
What  a  storied  fabric  were  this  murmurous  tan- 
gle woven  day  by  day,  could  each  one  of  these 
insect  messengers,  like  the  spider,  leave  its  visible 
trail  behind  it ! 

As  a  rule,  these  blossom  ceremonies  are  of  the 
briefest  description.  Occasionally,  however,  as  in 
the  cypripedium  and  in  certain  of  the  arums,  or 
"  jack-in-the-pulpit,"  and  aristolochias,  the  welcome 
becomes  somewhat  aggressive,  the  guest  being 
forcibly  detained  awhile  after  tea,  or,  as  in  the  case 
of  our  milkweed,  occasionally  entrapped  for  life. 

From  this  companionable  point  of  view  let  us 
now  look  ag^ain  at  the  stranore  curved  stamen  Sf 
the  sage.  Why  this  peculiar  formation  of  the 
long  curved  arm  pivoted  on  its  stalk  ?  Consid- 
ered in  the  abstract,  it  can  have  no  possible  mean- 
ing;  but  taken  in  association  with  the  insect  to 


120 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


which  it  is  shaped, 
how  perfect  is  its 
adaptation,  how  instantly 
intelHgible  it  becomes ! 
Every  one  is  familiar 
with  the  sage  of  the 
country  garden,  its  lav- 
ender   flowers    arranged 

in  whorls  in  a  long  cluster  at  the  tips  of  the 
stems.  One  of  these  flowers,  a  young  one  from 
the  top  of  the  cluster,  is  shown  at  A  (Fig.  4),  in 
section,  the  long  thread-like  pistil   starting  from 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE   FLOWERS 


121 


the  ovary,  and  curving  upward  beneath  the  arch 
of  the  flower,  with  its  forked  stigma  barely  pro- 
truding (B).  There  are  two  of  the  queer  stamens, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  blossom,  and  situ- 
ated as  shown,  their  anthers 
concealed  in  the  hood  above, 
and  only  their  lower  extrem- 
ity appears  below,  the  minute 
o-rowth  near  it  beins:  one  of 
the  rudiments  of  two  former 
stamens  which  have  become 
aborted.  If  we  take  a  flower 
from  the  lower  portion  of  the 
cluster  (D),  we  find  that  the 
thread-like  pistil  has  been 
elongated  nearly  a  third  of 
an  inch,  its  forked  stigma 
now  hanging  directly  at  the 
threshold  of  the  flower.  The 
object  of  this  will  be  clearly 
demonstrated  if  we  closely 
observe  this  bee  upon  the 
blossoms.  He  has  now  reached  the  top  of  the 
cluster  among  the  younger  blossoms.  He  creeps 
up  the  outstretched  platform  of  the  flower,  and 
has  barely  thrust  his  head  within  its  tube  when 


122  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

down  comes  the  pair  of  clappers  on  his  back 
(C).  Presently  he  backs  out,  bearing  a  generous 
dab  of  yellow  pollen,  which  is  further  increased 
from  each  subsequent  flower.  He  has  now  fin- 
ished this  cluster,  and  flies  to  the  next,  alight- 
ins  as  usual  on  the  lowermost  tier  of  bloom.  In 
them  the  elongated  stigma  now  hangs  directly 
in  his  path,  and  comes  in  contact  with  the  pollen 
on  his  back  as  the  insect  sips  the  nectar.  Cross- 
fertilization  is  thus  insured;  and,  moreover,  cross- 
fertilization  not  only  from  a  distinct  flower,  but 
from  a  separate  cluster,  or  even  a  separate  plant. 
For  in  these  older  stigmatic  flowers  the  anther  as 
it  comes  down  upon  his  back  is  seen  to  be  with- 
ered, having  shed  its  pollen  several  days  since,  the 
supply  of  pollen  on  the  bee's  body  being  suffi- 
cient to  fertilize  all  the  stigmas  in  the  cluster, 
until  a  new  supply  is  obtained  from  the  pollen- 
bearinor  blossoms  above.  And  thus  he  continues 
his  rounds. 

The  sage  is  a  representative  of  the  large  botan- 
ical order  known  as  the  Mint  family,  the  labiates, 
or  gaping  two -lipped  flowers,  the  arched  hood 
here  answering  to  the  upper  lip,  the  spreading 
base  forming  the  lower  lip,  which  is  usually  de- 
signed as  a  convenient  threshold  for  the  insects 
while   sipping  the   nectar  deep  within    the   tube. 


THE    WELCOMES   OF   THE    FLOWERS  1 23 

This  meclianism  of  the  sage  is  but  one  of  many 
curious  and  various  contrivances  in  the  Mint  fam- 
ily, all  designed  for  the  same  end,  the  intercross- 
ing of  the  flowers. 

While  each  family  of  plants  is  apt  to  favor 
some  particular  general  plan,  the  modifications  in 
the  various  species  seem  almost  without  limit. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  Heath  family.  The 
family  of  the  heath,  cranberry,  pyrola,  Andromeda, 
and  mountain-laurel — how  do  these  blossoms  wel- 
come their  insect  friends.'^  This  group  is  partic- 
ularly distinguished  by  the  unusual  exception  in 
the  form  of  its  anthers,  which  open  by  pores  at 
their  tips,  instead  of  the  ordinary  side  fissures. 
Two  or  three  forms  of  these  anthers  are  shown  in 
my  row  of  stamens  (Fig.  i). 

Seen  thus  in  their  detached  condition,  how  in- 
comprehensible and  grotesque  do  they  appear! 
And  yet,  when  viewed  at  home,  in  their  bell- 
shaped  corollas,  their  hospitable  expression  and 
greeting  are  seen  to  be  quite  as  expressive  and 
rational  as  those  of  the  sage.  Take  the  moun- 
tain-laurel, for  instance;  what  a  singular  exhibition 
is  this  which  we  may  observe  on  any  twilight 
evening  in  the  laurel  copse,  the  dense  clusters  of 
pink-white  bloom  waited  upon  by  soft-winged  flut- 
tering moths,  and  ever   and  anon  celebrating  its 


124 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


cordial  spirit  by  a  mimic  display  of  pyrotechnics  as 
the  anthers  hurl  aloft  their  tiny  showers  of  pollen  ! 
Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  curious  construc- 
tion of  this  flower,  with  its  ten  radiating  stamens, 
each   with   its  anther    snugly   tucked   away   in   a 

pouch  at  the  rim  of 
its  saucer-shaped  co- 
rolla. Thus  they  ap- 
pear in  the  freshly 
opened  flower,  and 
thus  will  they  re- 
main and  wither  if 
the  flower  is  brought 
in-doors  and  placed 
in  a  vase  upon  our  mantel.  Why.?  Because  the 
hope  of  the  blossom's  life  is  not  fulfilled  in  these 
artificial  conditions  ;  its  natural  counterpart,  the 
insect,  has  failed  to  respond  to  its  summons. 

But  the  twilight  cluster  in  the  woods  may  tell 
us  a  pretty  story. 

Here  a  tin}/^  moth  hovers  above  the  tempting 
chalice,  and  now  settles  upon  it  with  eager  tongue 
extended  for  the  nectar  at  its  centre.  What  an 
immediate  and  expressive  w'elcome !  No  sooner 
has  this  little  feathery  body  touched  the  filaments 
than  the  eaofer  anthers  are  released  from  their 
pockets,  and,  springing   inwards,  clasp  their  little 


THE    WELCOMES    OF   THE    FLOWERS 


125 


visitor,  at    tlie    same    time    decorating    him   with 
their  compHments  of  webby  pollen  (A,  Fig.  5). 

The  nectary  now  drained  of  its  sweets,  the 
moth  creeps  or  flutters  to  a  second  blossom,  and 
its  pollen -dusted  body  thus  coming  in  contact 
with  its  stigma,  cross-fertilization  is  accomplished. 


■">. 


[^^--^ 


.M' 


^--■v£i 


...-iS;**%?4«e» 


..!^* 


ji^'Si^ljV 


Fig.  5       . 

The  pollen  of  the  laurel  differs  from  that  of  most 
of  the  Heath  blooms,  its  grains  being  more  or  less 
adherent  by  a  cobwebby  connective  which  per- 
meates the  mass  as  indicated  in  my  magnified 
representation  (B,  Fig.  5). 

It  is  probable  that  an  accessory  cross-fertiliza- 
tion frequently  results  from  a  mass  of  the  pollen 
falling  directly  upon  the  stigma  of  a  neighboring 
blossom,  or  even  upon  its  own  stigma,  but  even  in 


126  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

the  latter  case,  as  has  been  absolutely  demon- 
strated as  a  general  law  by  the  experiments  of 
Darwin,  the  pollen  from  a  separate  flower  is  al- 
most invariably  prepotent,  and  leads  to  the  most 
perfect  fruition,  and  thus  to  the  survival  of  the 
fittest — the  cross-fertilized.  And,  in  any  event, 
the  insect  is  to  be  credited  for  the  release  of  the 
tiny  catapults  by  which  the  pollen  is  discharged. 
But  the  laurel  may  be  considered  as  an  excep- 
tional example  of  the  Heath  family.  Let  us  look 
at  a  more  perfect  type  of  the  order  to  which  it 
belongs,  the  globular  blossom  of  the  Andromeda 
(A.  ligustrina). 

Only  a  short  walk  from  my  studio  door  in  the 
country  I  recently  observed  its  singular  reception 
to  the  tiny  black-and-white  banded  bee,  which 
seems  to  be  its  especial  companion,  none  the  less 
constant  and  forgiving  in  spite  of  a  hospitality 
which,  from  the  human  stand-point,  would  certain- 
ly seem  rather  discouraging.  Fancy  a  morning 
call  upon  your  particular  friend.  You  knock  at 
the  door,  and  are  immediately  greeted  at  the 
threshold  with  a  quart  of  sulphur  thrown  into 
your  face.  Yet  this  is  precisely  the  experience  of 
this  patient  little  insect,  which  manifests  no  dispo- 
sition to  retaliate  with  the  concealed  weapon 
which  on  much  less  provocation  he   is   quick  to 


THE  WELCOMES   OF   THE    FLOWERS 


127 


employ.      Here   he   comes, 
eager    for    the    fray.       He 
ahghts    upon    one    of    the 
tin)   belK  scarce  half  the  size  of 
his    bocU       Creeping    down    be- 
neath   it,  he    inserts    his   tonoue 
,.}'  into  the  narrowed  opening.     In- 

stantly a  copious  shower  of  dust 
is  poured  down  upon  his  face  and  body.  But  he 
has  been  used  to  it  all  his  life,  and  by  heredity 
he  knows  that  this  is  Andromeda's  peculiar  whim, 
and  is  content  to  humor  it  for  the  sweet  recom- 
pense which  she  bestows.  The  nectar  drained,  the 
insect,  as  dusty  as  a  miller,  visits  another  flower, 
but  before  he  enters  must  of  necessity  first  pay  his 
toll  of  pollen  to  the  drooping  stigma  which  barely 


128 


MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 


protrudes  beneath  the  blossom's  throat,  and  tlie 
expectant  seed  -  pod  above  welcomes  the  good 
tidings  with  visions  of  fruition. 

And   how  beautiful   is   the   minute  mechanical 
adaptation    by   which   this  end   is   accomplished ! 


Fig   6 

This  species  of  Andromeda  is  a  shrub  of  about 
four  feet  in  height,  its  blossoms  being  borne  in 
close  panicled  clusters  at  the  summit  of  the 
branches.  The  individual  flower  is  hardly  more 
than  an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  From 
one  of  three  blossoms  I  made  the  accompanying 
series  of  three  sectional  drawings  (Fig.  6).  The 
first  shows  the  remarkable  interior  arrangement 
of  the  ten  stamens  surrounding  the  pistil.     The 


THE   WELCOMES    OF   THE    FLOWERS  129 

second  presents  a  sectional  view  of  these  stamens, 
showing  their  pecuHar  S -shaped  filaments  and 
ring  of  anthers  —  one  of  the  latter  being  shown 
separate  at  the  right,  with  its  two  pores  and  ex- 
posed pollen.  The  freshly  opened  blossom  dis- 
closes the  entire  ring  of  anthers  in  perfect  equilib- 
rium, each  with  its  two  orifices  closed  by  close 
contact  with  the  style,  thus  retaining  the  pollen. 
It  will  readily  be  seen  that  an  insect  s  tongue,  as 
indicated  by  the  needle,  in  probing  between  them 
in  search  for  nectar,  must  needs  dislocate  one  or 
more  of  the  anthers,  and  thus  release  their  dusty 
contents,  while  the  position  of  the  stigma  below  is 
such  as  to  escape  all  contact. 

In  most  flowers,  with  the  exception  of  the  or- 
chids, the  stamens  and  pollen  are  plainly  visible ; 
but  who  ever  sees  the  anthers  of  the  blue-flao-? 
Surely  none  but  the  analytical  botanist  and  the 
companion  insect  to  whom  it  is  so  artfully  ad- 
justed and  so  demonstrative.  This  insect  is  like- 
ly to  be  either  a  bumblebee  or  a  species  of  large 
fly.  In  apt  illustration  of  Sprengel's  theory  of 
the  "path-finder"  or  honey-guide,  the  insect  does 
not  alight  at  the  centre  of  the  flower,  but  upon 
one  of  the  three  large  drooping  sepals,  whose 
veins,  converging  to  the  narrow  trough  above,  in- 
dicate the  path   to  the  nectar.     Closely  overarch- 


ing  this  portion  is 
a  long  and  narrow 
curved  roof — one 
of  three  divisions 
to  the  style,  each 
surmounting  its 

veined  sepals.  Beneath  this  our  visiting  bee  dis- 
appears, and  a  glance  at  my  sectional  drawing 
shows  what  happens.  Concealed  within,  against 
the  ridge-pole,  as  it  were,  the  anther  awaits  his 
coming,  and  in  his  passage  to  and  from  the  nec- 
tar below   spreads  its  pollen   over  his  head   and 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE   FLOWERS 


131 


back.  Having  backed  out  of  this  segment  of  the 
blossom  (A,  Fig.  7),  he  proceeds  to  the  next;  but 
the  shelf-]ike  stigma  awaits  him  at  the  door,  and 
scrapes  off  or  rubs  off  a  few  grains  of  the  pollen 


Fig.  7 


from  his  back  (B).  Thus  he  continues  until  the 
third  segment  is  reached,  from  which  he  carries 
away  a  fresh  load  of  pollen  to  another  flower.  It 
will  be  seen  that  only  the  outer  side  of  this  ap- 
pendage is  stigmatic,  and  that  it  is  thus  naturally 
impossible  for  the  blue-flag  to  self-fertilize— only 


132 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


one  instance  of  thousands  in  which  the  anther 
and  stigma,  though  placed  in  the  closest  prox- 
imity, and  apparently  even  in  contact  —  seem- 
ingly with  the  design  of  self-fertilization — ^are 
actually  more  perfectly  separated  functionally 
than  if  in  separate  flowers,  the  insect  alone  con- 
summating their  affinity. 

In  some  flowers   this   sepa- 
ration   is   effected,  as    I    have 
shown,   by    their    maturing   at 
different  periods  ;  in  others,  as 
in  the   iris,  by  mere  mechani- 
cal means ;  while  in  a  long  list 
of  plants,  as  in  the  willow,  pop- 
lar, hemp,  oak,  and   nettle,  the 
cross-fertilization  is 
absolutely     necessi- 
tated by  the  fact  of 
the    staminate    and 
stigmatic  flowers  be- 
ing either  separated 
on  the  same  stalk  or 
on  different  plants, 
the  pollen  being  car- 
ried by  insects  or  the 
wind.     We  may  see 
a  pretty  illustration 


x^' 


of  this  in  tiic  little 
wild   flower   known 
as     the     cle\  il's  -  bit 
{Cha  ma: I ir ill  in  In  ten  ni), 
whose   long,  white,  ta- 
pering spire    of   feath- 
ery  bloom   may   often 
be    seen    rising   above 
the    sedges    in    the 
swamp,       T\\  o     years 
ago    I    chanced    uj^on 
a  little  colony  of  four  or  five 
plants  at  the  edge  of  a  bog. 
The    flowers,    all     of    them,    were 
mere   petals   and  stamens  (B,  Fig, 
8).     I  looked  in  vain  for  a  single 
stigmatic  plant  or  flower ;   but  far 
across  the  swamp,  a  thousand  feet 


134  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

distant,  I  at  length  discovered  a  single  spire,  com- 
posed entirely  of  pistillate  flowers,  as  shown  in 
A  (Fig.  8),  and  my  magnifying -glass  clearly  re- 
vealed the  pollen  upon  their  stigmas — doubtless  a 
welcome  message  brought  from  the  isolated  affin- 
ity afar  by  some  winged  sponsor,  to  whom  the 
peculiar  fragrance  of   the  flower  offers   a  special 


attraction,  and  thus  to  whom  the  fortunes  of  the 
devirs-bit  have  been  committed. 

The  presence  of  fragrance  and  honey  in  a  dioe- 
cious flower  may  be  accepted  in  the  abstract  as 
almost  conclusive  of  an  insect  affinity,  as  in  most 
flowers  of  this  class,  notably  the  beech,  pine,  dock, 
grasses,  etc.,  the  wind  is  the  fertilizing  agent,  and 
there  is  absence  alike  of  conspicuous  color,  fra- 
grance, and  nectar — attributes  which  refer  alone 
to  insects,  or  possibly  humming-birds  in  certain 
species. 


\ 


7 


Look  where  we  will  among 
the  blossoms,  we  find  the 
same  beautiful  plan  of  in- 
tercommunion and  reciproc- 
ity everywhere  demonstrated. 
The  means  appear  without  lim- 
it in  their  evolved  —  rather,  I 
should  say,  involved — ingenuit}^ 
Pluck  the  first  flower  that  you 
meet  in  vour  stroll  to-morrow, 
and  it  will  tell  you  a  new  story. 

Only  a  few  days  since,  while  out  on  a  drive,  I 
passed  a  luxuriant  clump  of  the  plant  known  as 


136 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


"  horse -balm."  I  had  known  it  all  my  life,  and 
twent}^  years  previously  had  made  a  careful  ana- 
lytical drawing  of  the  mere  botanical  specimen. 
What  could  it  say  to  me  now  in  my  more  ques- 
tioning mood  .f*  Its  queer  little  yellow -fringed 
flowers  hung  in  profusion  from  their  spreading 
terminal  racemes.     I  recalled  their  singular  shape, 


Fig.  9 


and  the  two  out -stretched  stamens  protruding 
from  their  gaping  corolla,  and  could  distinctly 
see  them  as  I  sat  in  the  carriao-e.  I  had  never 
chanced  to  read  of  this  iiower  in  the  literature 
of  cross -fertilization,  and  murmuring,  half  aloud, 
"  What  pretty  mystery  is  yours,  my  Collinsonia  .?" 
prepared  to  investigate. 

What  I  observed  is  pictured  severally  at  Fig.  9, 


THE   WKLCOMES    OF   THE   FLOWERS 


137 


the  flowers  being  shown  from  above,  showino-  the 
two  spreading  stamens  and  the  decidedly  excep- 
tional  unsymmetrical   position    of   the   long  style 
extending  to  the  side.     A  small 
nectar- seeking   bumblebee    had 
approached,    and     in     alio-htino- 
upon     the    fringed     platform 
grasped   the   filaments  for  sup- 
port, and  thus  clapped  the  pollen 
against  his  sides.     Rea- 
soning from   analogy,  it 
would  of  course  be  abso- 
lutely clear  that  this  pol- 
len has  thus  been  depos- 
ited where  it  will  come  in 
contact  with  the  stigma 
of   another  flower.     So, 
of  course,  it  proved.     In 
the  bee's  continual  visits 
to  the  several  flowers  he 
came  at  length  to  the  youno-er 
blooms,  where   the   forked  stio- 
mas  were  turned  directly  to  the 
front,   while  the  immature   sta- 
mens were  still  curled  up  in  the  flower  tubes.   Even 
the  unopened  buds  show^ed  a  number  of  species 
where  the  early  matured  stigma  actually  protruded 


138  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

through  a  tiny  orifice  in  precisely  the  right  posi- 
tion to  strike  the  pollen-dusted  body  of  the  bee,  as 
he  forced  his  tongue  through  the  tiny  aperture.* 

If  their  dainty  mechanism  excite  our  wonder, 
what  shall  be  said  of  the  revelations  in  the  great 
order  of  the  Composit^e,  where  each  so-called 
flower,  as  in  the  dandelion,  daisy,  cone-flower,  mari- 
gold, is  really  a  dense  cluster  of  minute  flowers, 
each  as  perfect  in  its  construction  as  in  the  exam- 
ples already  mentioned,  each  with  its  own  pecul- 
iar plan  designed  to  insure  the  transfer  of  its  own 
pollen  to  the  stigma  of  its  neighbor,  while  exclud- 
ing it  from  its  own  ? 

All  summer  long  the  cone  -  flower.  Fig.  10 
{Riidbcckia  hirta),  blooms  in  our  fields,  but  how 
few  of  us  imagine  the  strange  processes  which 
are  being  enacted  in  that  purple  cone  !  Let  us 
examine  it  closely.  If  we  pluck  one  of  the 
blossom's  heads  and  keep  it  in  a  vase  over- 
night, we  shall  probably  see  on  the  following 
morning  a  tiny  yellow  ring  of  pollen  encircling 
the  outer  edge  of   the  cone.      In    this   way   only 

*  In  numerous  instances  observ^ed  since  the  above  was  writ- 
ten I  have  noted  the  larger  bumblebees  upon  the  blossom. 
These  insects  have  a  different  method  of  approach,  hanging  be- 
neath the  flower,  the  anthers  being  clapped  against  their  thorax 
at  the  juncture  of  the  wings,  instead  of  the  abdomen,  as  in  the 
smaller  bee. 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE   FLOWERS 


139 


are  we  likely  to  see  the  ring  in  its  perfection,  as  in 
a  state  of  nature  the  wind  and  insects  rarely  per- 
mit it  to  remain. 

If  we  now  with  a  sharp  knife  make  a  vertical 


Fig.  10 

section,  as  shown  at  A  (Fig.  3),  we  may  observe  the 
conical  receptacle  studded  with  its  embryo  seeds, 
each  bearing  a  tiny  tubular  blossom.  Three  dis- 
tinct forms  of  these  flowers  are  to  be  seen.  The 
lower  and  older  ones  are  conspicuous  by  their 
double  feathery  tails,  the  next  by  their  extended 
anthers  bearing  the  pollen  at  their  extremity, 
and  above  these  ao-ain  the  buds  in  all  stashes  of 
growth.  These  various  states  are  indicated  in 
Fig.  II. 

As  in  all  the  Compositze,  the  anthers  are  here 
united  in  a  tube,  the  pollen  being  discharged 
within.  At  the  base  of  this  anther-tube  rises  the 
pistil,  which  gradually  elongates,  and  like  a  piston 
forces  out  the  pollen  at  the  top.     Small  insects  in 


140 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


creeping  over  the  cone  quickly  dislodge  it.  In 
the  next  stage  the  anthers  have  withered,  the 
flower -tube  elongated,  and  the  top  of  the  two- 
parted  pistil  begins  to  protrude,  and  at  length  ex- 
pands its  tips,  disclosing  at  the  centre  the  stig- 
matic  surface,  which  has  until  now  been  protected 
by  close  contact.     (See  section.) 

A   glance   at    Fig.  1 1    will   reveal    the   plan   in- 


Fig.  II 


volved.  The  ring  of  pollen  is  inevitably  scattered 
to  the  stigmas  of  the  neighboring  flowers,  and 
cross -fertilization  continually  insured.  Similar 
contrivances  are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  Com- 
positae,  through  the  same  method  being  variously 
applied. 

Perhaps  even  more  remarkable  than  any  of  the 


rilE   ^YELCOMES    OF    THE    FLOWERS  141 

foregoing,  which  are  more  or  less  automatic  in 
their  movements,  is  the  truly  astonishing  and 
seemingly  conscious  mechanism  displayed  in  the 
wild  arum  of  Great  Britain  —  the  "lords  and  la- 
dies "  of  the  village  lanes,  the  foreign  counterpart 
of  our  well-known  jack-in-the-pulpit,  or  Indian-tur- 
nip, with  its  purple -streaked  canopy,  and  sleek 
"  preacher  "  standing  erect  beneath  it.  A  repre- 
sentation of  this  arum  is  shown 
in  Fig,  12,  and  a  cross  section 
at  A,  properly  indexed. 

How  confidently  would  the 
superficial — nay,  even  careful — 
examination  of  one  of  the  old- 
time  botanists  have  interpreted 
its  structure :  "  How  simple  and 
perfect  the  structure  !     Observe 

i  Fig.  12 

how  the  anthers  are  placed  so 
that  pollen  shall  naturally  fall  directly  on  the 
stigmas  and  fertilize  them !"  Such  would  indeed 
appear  to  be  intended,  until  it  is  actually  dis- 
covered that  the  s/i'ojnas  have  withei^cci  when  the 
pollen  is  shed — a  device  which,  acting  in  asso- 
ciation with  the  little  rins^  of  hairs,  tells  a  stranore 
story.  It  is  not  my  fortune  to  have  seen  one 
of  these  singular  blossoms,  but  from  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  process  of  fertilization  given  in   Her- 


142 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


mann  Miiller's  wonderful  work,  aided  by  a  bo- 
tanical illustration  of  the  structure  of  the  flower, 
I  am  readily  enabled  to  picture  the  progressive 
stages  of  the  mechanism. 


In  the  first  stage  (B,  Fig.  1 3)  small  flies  with  bod- 
ies dusted  with  pollen  from  a  previous  arum  blos- 
som (for  insects,  as  a  rule,  remain  faithful  or  partial 
to  one  species  of  flowers  while  it  is  in  bloom)  are 
entering  the  narrowed  tube,  easily  passing  through 
the  drooping  fringe  of  hairs.  Nectar  is  secreted 
by  the  stigmas,  and  here  the  flies  assemble,  thus 
dusting  them  with  pollen.  Their  appetite  tempo- 
rarily satisfied,  the  insects  seek  escape,  but  find 
their  exit  effectually  barred  by  the  intruding 
fringe  of  hairs  (C).     In  this  second  stage  the  stig- 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE   FLOWERS  143 

mas,  having  now  been  fertilized  have  withered,  at 
the  same  time  exuding  a  fresh  supply  of  nectar, 
which  again  attracts  the  flies,  whereupon,  as 
shown  at  D,  the  anthers  open  and  discharge 
their  pollen  upon  the  insects.  In  the  fourth 
stage  (E),  all  the  functions  of  the  flower  having 
now  been  fulfilled,  the  fringe  of  hairs  withers,  and 
the  imprisoned  pollen-laden  flies  are  permitted  to 
escape  to  another  flower,  where  the  beautiful 
scheme  is  again  enacted. 

In  a  paper  of  this  kind  it  is  of  course  possible 
only  to  hint  at  a  few  representative  examples  of 
floral  mechanisms,  but  these  would  be  indeed  in- 
complete without  a  closing  reference  to  that  won- 
derful tribe  of  flowers  with  which  the  theory  of 
cross -fertilization  will  ever  be  memorably  asso- 
ciated. I  have  previously  alluded  to  the  absolute 
dependence  of  the  red  clover  upon  the  bumble- 
bee. This  instance  may  be  considered  somewhat 
exceptional,  though  numerous  parallel  cases  are 
known.  Among  ordinary  flowers  this  interven- 
tion of  the  insect  is  largely  a  preferable  intention, 
and  though  almost  invariably  fulfilled,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  flowers  still  retain,  as  a  dernier  ressort, 
the  power  of  at  least  partial  self-fertilization  and 
perpetuity  in  the  absence  or  neglect  of  their  in- 
sect counterpart. 


144  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

The  numerous  and  conclusive  demonstrations 
of  Darwin,  however,  have  proved  that  in  the  com- 
petition for  existence  such  self-fertiHzed  offspring 
quickly  yield  before  the  progeny  of  cross -fertili- 
zation. 

But  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  orchids  lies  in 
the  fact  that  this  dependence  on  the  insect  is 
wellnigh  universally  absolute.  Here  are  a  great 
host  of  plants  which  are  doomed  to  extinction  if 
for  any  reason  their  insect  sponsors  should  per- 
manently neglect  them.  The  principal  botanical 
feature  which  differentiates  the  orchid  from  other 
plants  lies  in  the  construction  of  the  floral  organs, 
the  pistil,  stigma,  and  anthers  here  being  united 
into  a  distinct  part  known  as  the  column.  The 
pollen  is,  moreover,  peculiar,  being  collected  into 
more  or  less  compact  masses,  and  variously  con- 
cealed in  the  flower.  Some  of  these  are  club- 
shaped,  with  a  viscid  extremity,  others  of  the  con- 
sistency of  a  sticking-plaster,  and  all  are  hidden 
from  external  view  in  pouches  and  pockets,  from 
which  they  never  emerge  unless  withdrawn  on 
the  body  of  an  insect.  The  various  devices  by 
which  this  removal  is  insured  are  most  astonish- 
ing and  awe-inspiring.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  go 
to  the  conservatory  for  a  tropical  specimen,  as  is 
commonly   supposed.      An    orchid    is    an    orchid 


THE   WELCOMES   OF   THE   FLOWERS 


H5 


wherever   it   grows,  and   our   native   list  of  some 
fifty  species   will    afford   examples   of  as   strange 
mechanical  adaptations  as  are  to  be  found  among 
Darwin's  pages.     Indeed,  a  few  of  our  American 
species  are   there   described.      One  example  will 
sufiice  for  present  illustration — the  sweet-pogonia 
or  grass-pink  of  our  sedgy  swamps  [Pogonia  ophi- 
oglossoides).     Its    solitary    rosy    blossom,  nodding 
on  its  slender  stem  above  the  sedges,  is  always  a 
welcome  episode  to  the  sauntering  botanist,  and 
its    perfume,    suggesting 
ripe     red    raspberries,    is 
unique   in   the  wild   bou- 
quet.    One  of  these  flow- 
ers is  shown  in  profile  at 
Fig.  14,  its  various   parts 
indexed.      Concealed   be- 
hind the  petals  is  the  col- 
umn, elsewhere  indicated 
from    various    points    of 
view.      Attracted    by    its 
color  and  fragrance,  the  insect  seeks  the  flower; 
its   outstretched  fringy   lip  offers   a  cordial  invi- 
tation  at   its   threshold,  and    conducts   its   visitor 
directly   to    the    sweets   above.     In   his   entrance, 
as    seen    at    D   (Fig.   15),  the    narrowed    passage 
compresses  his  back  against  the  underside  of  the 


Fig.  14 


146 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


column,  forcing  his  head  and  back  against  the 
stiema.  The  effect  of  this  inward  pressure,  as 
will  be  seen,  only  serves  to  force  the  anther  more 
firmly  within  its  pocket ;  but  as  the  insect,  hav- 
ing drained  the  nectar,  now  backs  out,  note  the 
result.  The  lip  of  the  anther  catches  upon  the 
back,  swings   outward  on  its  hinge,  and  deposits 


Fig.  15 


its  sticky  pollen  all  over  the  insect's  back,  return- 
ing to  its  original  position  after  his  departure.  In 
another  moment  he  is  seen  upon  another  blos- 
som, as  at  D  again,  his  pollen -laden  back  now 
coming  in  contact  with  the  stigma,  and  the  in- 
tention of  the  blossom  is  accomplished ;  for  with- 
out this  assistance   from  the  insect  the  little   lid 


THE   WELCOMES    OF   THE    FLOWERS  I47 

remains   close  within   its   pocket,  and  the   pollen 
is  thus  retained. 

Wliat  startling  disclosures  are  revealed  to  the 
inward  eye  within  the  hearts  of  all  these  stranee 
orchidaceous  flowers  !  Blossoms  whose  functions, 
through  long  eras  of  adaptation,  have  gradually 
shaped  themselves  to  the  forms  of  certam  chosen 
insect  sponsors;  blossoms  whose  chalices  are  lit- 
erally fashioned  to  bees  or  butterflies;  blossoms 
whose  slender,  prolonged  nectaries  invite  and  re- 
ward the  murmuring  sphinx-moth  alone,  the  floral 
throat  closely  embracing  his  head  while  it  at- 
taches its  pollen  masses  to  the  bulging  eyes,  or 
perchance  to  the  capillary  tongue !  And  thus  in 
endless  modifications,  evidences  all  of  the  same 
deep  vital  purpose. 

Let  us  then  content  ourselves  no  lono-er  with 
being  mere  "  botanists  " — historians  of  structural 
facts.  The  flowers  are  not  mere  comely  or  curi- 
ous vegetable  creations,  with  colors,  odors,  petals, 
stamens,  and  innumerable  technical  attributes. 
The  wonted  insight  alike  of  scientist,  philosopher, 
theologian,  and  dreamer  is  now  repudiated  in  the 
new  revelation.  Beauty  is  not  "  its  own  excuse 
for  being,"  nor  was  fragrance  ever  "  wasted  on  the 
desert  air."  The  seer  has  at  last  heard  and  inter- 
preted the  voice  in  the  wilderness.     The  flower  is 


148  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

no  longer  a  simple  passive  victim  in  the  busy 
bee's  sweet  pillage,  but  rather  a  conscious  be- 
ing, with  hopes,  aspirations,  and  companionships. 
The  insect  is  its  counterpart.  Its  fragrance  is 
but  a  perfumed  whisper  of  welcome,  its  color  is  as 
the  wooing  blush  and  rosy  lip,  its  portals  are 
decked  for  his  coming,  and  its  sweet  hospitali- 
ties humored  to  his  tarrying;  and  as  it  finally 
speeds  its  parting  affinity  rests  content  that  its 
life's  consummation  has  been  fulfilled. 


A  HONEY -DEW  PICNIC 


EVERAL  of  our  notable  as  well 
as  notorious  human,  social,  and 
civic  customs  find  their  prehis- 
toric prototypes  in  the  insect 
kino'dom.      The  monarchical  in- 

O 

stitution  sees  its  singular  proph- 
ecy in  the  domestic  economy  of 
the  bees.  War  and  slavery  have 
always  been  carried  on  system- 
atically and  effectually  by  ants,  and,  according  to 
Huberand  other  authorities, agriculture,  gardening, 
and  an  industry  very  like  dairy  farming  have  been 
time -honored  customs  among  this  same  wise  and 


152  iMY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

thrifty  insect  tribe,  whose  claims  to  thoughtful  con- 
sideration were  so  long  ago  voiced  by  Solomon  of 
proverbial  fame.  Thevenot  mentions  "Solomon's 
ant"  as  among  the  "  beasts  which  shall  enter  para- 
dise." Indeed,  the  human  saint  as  well  as  slug- 
gard may  "go  to  the  ant"  for  many  suggestive 
hints  and  commentaries. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  more  notable  par- 
allelisms which  suggest  themselves.  But  others 
are  not  wanting  if  we  care  to  follow  the  subject. 
In  addition  to  the  many  models  of  thrift  and  vir- 
tuous industry,  embodying  types  of  many  of  the 
trade  employments  known  to  humanity,  have  we 
not  also  among  these  "  meadow  tribes  "  our  luxu- 
rious "  idlers  "  and  "  exquisites,"  the  butterflies 
and  flower- haunting  flies  and  "dandy"  beetles; 
and,  opposed  to  all  these,  the  suggestive  antithesis 
of  the  promiscuous  marauders,  tliieves,  and  brig- 
ands everywhere  interspersed  ^ 

Thus  we  have  our  individual  insect  assassin 
and  assassination  organized  in  war;  so,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  we  our  insect  merrymakers; 
why  not,  then,  our  picnic  or  carnival  ? 

Such  I  am  moved  to  call  the  singular  episode 
which  I  observed  last  summer,  and  which  I  have 
endeavored  to  picture  as  true  to  the  life  as  possi- 
ble in  the  accompanying  presentment.     The  seep- 


A   HONEV-DEW    PICNIC  153 

tic  will  perhaps  remark  on  examination  that  the 
scene  is  characterized  by  somewhat  too  free  a  li- 
cense to  warrant  the  ideal  of  a  "picnic."      But  he 

is  hypercritical.     There  are  picnics  and  jMcnics 

picnics  of  high  and  of  low  degree.     Do  I  not  re- 
call more  than  one  notorious  festive  outing  of  the 
"next  lower  than  the  angels"  in  which  \\\^ personnel 
seemed  about  similarly  proportioned,  and  the  fun 
and  attraction  comparatively  related  to  the  license.? 
One  July  afternoon  a  year  ago  I  was  returning 
home  from  one  of  my  botanizing  strolls.     I  had 
just  emerged  from  a  deep  wood,  and  was  skirtino- 
its   border,  when    my  attention   was  caught   by  a 
small  fluttering  swarm  of  butterflies,  which  started 
up  at  my  approach  and  hovered  about  a  blossom- 
ing  blackberry  bush  a  few  yards   in  advance  of 
me  at  the  side  of  my  path.     The  diversity  of  the 
butterfly  species  in  the  swarm  struck  me  as  sin- 
gular, and  the  mere  allurement  of  the  blackberry 
blossoms  —  not  usually  of  especial   attraction   to 
butterflies  —  could  hardly  explain  so  extensive  a 
gathering.     Here  was   the  great  yellow  swallow- 
tail {Tnrnns),  red  admiral  {Atlanta),  small  yellow- 
butterfly  {Philodice),  white  cabbage-butterfly,  com- 
ma and  semicolon,  and  numerous  small  frv,  flutter- 
ing  about  me  in  evident  protest  against  my  intru- 
sion.    They  showed  no  inclination  to  vacate  the 


154  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

premises,  so,  in  pursuance  of  one  of  the  first  arti- 
cles of  my  saunterer's  creed,  I  concluded  to  retreat 
softly  a  few  paces  and  watch  for  developments. 
One  by  one  the  swarm  sought  their  original 
haunt,  settling  on  the  bramble,  and  I  now  noticed 
that  only  in  occasional  instances  did  the  insects 
seek  the  flowers,  the  attraction  seeming  to  be 
confined  to  the  leaves.  1  stole  up  softly  for  a 
nearer  point  of  observation,  and  could  now  dis- 
tinctly see  the  beautiful  yellow  and  black  open 
wings  of  the  swallow-tail  softly  gliding  or  gently 
fluttering  as  it  hung  from  the  edge  of  a  leaf, 
while  it  explored  its  surface  with  its  uncoiled  ca- 
pillary tongue.  Just  beyond  my  Turims,  on  an- 
other leaf,  I  now  noted  a  new  presence,  the  orange 
Aphrodite  butterfly,  silvery  spotted,  its  nether 
wings  being  folded  over  its  back,  too  much  ab- 
sorbed to  have  been  startled  by  my  first  approach. 
Occasionally,  without  any  cause  which  I  could  de- 
tect from  my  present  position  —  certainly  in  no 
way  connected  with  my  presence — a  small  swarm 
of  the  butterflies  would  rise  in  a  flutter  above  the 
bush,  as  though  actuated  by  a  common  whim — a 
brief  winged  tangle  in  which  a  beautiful  sprite  of 
velvety  black  hovering  in  a  globular  halo,  shot 
through  with  two  white  semicircular  arcs,  was  al- 
ways a  momentary  feature. 


A   HONEV-DEW    PICNIC  I  55 

Carefully  stealing  through  the  tall  grass,  I  now 
approached  to  within  touching  distance  of  the 
haunt,  and  was  soon  lost  in  mingled  wonder, 
amusement,  and  surprise  at  the  picnic  now  dis- 
closed, the  occasional  butterfly  swarm  being  now 
easily  explained.  From  my  first  point  of  view 
only  the  top  of  the  bramble  spray  was  visible 
above  the  grass,  and  by  far  the  most  interesting 
portion  of  the  exercises  had  been  concealed  from 
view.  The  butterflies,  while  naturally  the  most 
conspicuous  element,  were  now  seen  to  be  in  a 
small  minority  among  the  insect  gathering,  the 
bramble  leaves  being  peopled  with  a  most  motley 
and  democratic  assemblaoe  of  insects.  Class  dis- 
tinctions  were  apparently  forgotten  in  the  com- 
mon enthusiasm ;  the  plebeian  bluebottle  and 
blowfly  now  consorted  with  Aphrodite  and  sipped 
at  the  same  drop.  Many  a  leaf  was  begemmed 
with  the  blue  bodies  closely  set  side  by  side  or 
in  a  close  cluster.  The  meat-fly,  house-fly,  and 
horse-fly  made  themselves  promiscuous  in  every 
portion  of  the  spray,  and  what  with  the  rainbow- 
eyed  and  ruby-eyed  flies,  black  and  silver-banded 
flower -flies,  and  other  tiny,  restless,  iridescent 
atoms  of  the  fly  fraternity,  the  family  of  Miisca 
was  well  represented  at  the  feast. 

Nor  were  these  all  the  guests  at  the  banquet — 


156  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

for  banquet  there  certainly  was,  judging  from  the 
eager  sipping  and  crowding  everywhere  upon  the 
leaves,  the  flowers  even  yet,  as  I  first  noticed, 
seeming  to  have  little  attraction. 

I  have  no  direct  means  of  knowing  as  to  the 
social  discrimination  of  the  host  as  shown  in  the 
entertainment,  for  that  invitations  were  issued  the 
subsequent  facts  would  show.  But  I  have  good 
reasons  for  believing,  from  the  course  of  events, 
that  the  gathering  included  a  number  of  question- 
able personages  that  were  not  counted  upon. 

Here,  for  instance,  was  an  overwhelming  con- 
tingent of  the  whole  tough  gang  of  wasps  and 
hornets — brown  wasps  from  under  the  eaves  and 
fences ;  black  hornets  from  the  big  paper  nests ; 
yellow-jackets  from  where  you  please;  deep  steel- 
blue  wire-waisted  wasps  from  the  mud  cells  in  the 
garret,  to  say  nothing  of  an  occasional  longer- 
waisted  digger- wasp,  and  a  host  of  their  allied 
lesser  associates  scattered  around  generously 
amono;  the  assemblacre. 

Every  now  and  then  a  big  darning-needle  took 
a  shimmering  circuit  about  the  bush,  and  doubt- 
less knew  what  he  was  about;  as  did  also  what  at 
first  glimpse  appeared  to  be  a  big  bumblebee, 
which  seemed  to  find  attraction  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, although   he   seldom   alighted  upon  the 


A    HONEY-DEW    PICNIC  I  57 

leaves,  preferring  to  sit  upon  a  neighboring  weed 
and  watch  his  opportunities. 

I  have  thus  described  a  few  of  the  more  promi- 
nent guests  or  personages  present  at  the  feast. 
But  I  have  reported  little  of  their  "goings  on." 
Doubtless  there  were  appropriate  toasts  and  re- 
sponses, or  what  in  bug  etiquette  answered  to  this 
seemingly  indispensable  human  fad,  while  as  to 
that  other  festive  social  essential  of  after-dinner 
speeches,  coupled  in  this  case  with  most  vigorous 
discussion,  I  am  certain  the  air  was  blue  with 
something  of  this  sort,  if  the  eloquent  pantomime 
bore  any  significance.  Here,  for  instance,  is  one 
isolated,  but  frequent,  episode.  A  peaceable  little 
group  of  plain  bluebottle -flies,  with  but  a  single 
thought,  are  all  sipping  at  the  same  drop  in  con- 
tentment. A  brief  respite,  for  now  the  tips  of  a 
pair  of  inquisitive  antennae  appear  from  the  under 
edge  of  the  leaf  upon  which  they  are  sipping,  and 
gingerly  explore  the  upper  surface.  They  are 
quickly  followed  by  the  covetous  almond  -  eyed 
gaze  of  a  brown  wasp,  that  now  steals  cautiously 
around  to  the  upper  surface,  and  appears  wholly 
engrossed  in  lickins^  the  leaf.  Nearer  and  nearer 
he  sidles  up  to  the  group  of  flies,  and  now  with 
deliberate  purpose  and  open  jaws  makes  a  dash 
among   them.     But   they  are   too  quick  for  him, 


158  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

and  are  away  in  a  glittering  blue  tangle,  which 
finally  concentrates  itself  upon  a  neighboring  leaf, 
where  the  eager  tippling  is  immediately  resumed. 
The  wasp  now  holds  the  fort,  and  seems  in  no 
mood  to  be  trifled  with.  With  head  and  fore  feet 
upraised  and  open  jaws  he  seems  "  spoiling  for  a 
fight,"  and  ready  to  make  war  upon  the  first 
comer.  But  no,  he  is  evidently  expecting  a 
friend  that,  I  now  observe,  approaches  him  deter- 
minedly down  the  stem  of  the  leaf.  The  new- 
comer, a  brown  wasp  like  himself,  is  now  at  close 
range,  and  in  an  instant  more,  without  any  visible 
courteous  preliminaries,  the  two  set  upon  each 
other  with  a  common  enthusiasm,  and  with  jaws 
working  and  stings  fencing  the  interlocked  com- 
batants fall  to  the  ground  for  a  finish.  I  presume 
the  affair  was  carried  to  the  fourteenth  round 
without  any  undue  interference. 

Another  and  another  of  these  friendly  meetings 
between  them  and  other  wasps  took  place  in  the 
half-hour  in  which  I  watched  the  sport.  There 
were  lulls  in  hostilities,  during  which  an  atmos- 
phere of  perfect  peace  and  harmony  seemed  to 
reign  around  my  bramble- bush.  The  flies  were 
motionless  in  their  ecstasy,  and  the  hornet  ele- 
ment seemed  by  common  consent  to  keep  tempo- 
rarily shady,  and  even   the  butterflies  seemed  to 


l6o  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

forget  that  they  had  wings.  But  not  for  long,  for 
now  with  a  shimmering  glitter  our  darning-needle 
invades  the  scene,  and  retires  to  a  convenient 
perch  with  a  ruby -eyed  fly  in  his  teeth,  while  a 
swarm  of  very  startled  butterflies  tells  conspicu- 
ously of  the  demoralization  which  he  has  left  in 
his  path.  Among  the  butterfly  representatives  I 
at  lenoth  observed  one  individual  which  at  first 
had  escaped  me,  an  exclusive  w^iite  cabbage-but- 
terfly which  sipped  quietly  at  his  leaf  in  the 
shade,  and  seemed  to  take  little  interest  in  the 
disreputable  actions  of  his  associates.  Nothing 
could  move  him  or  entice  him  away  from  his 
convivial  employment.  But,  alas  !  his  folly  soon 
found  him  out,  for,  on  happening  to  look  again,  I 
observed  he  had  found  a  new  acquaintance — a 
hornet  that  had  evidently  been  long  desirous  of 
meeting  him.  One  by  one  I  saw  my  butterfly's 
dismembered  wings  fall  to  the  grassy  jungle  be- 
low, while  a  big  black  wasp  proceeded  to  enjoy 
the  collected  sweets  which  he  had  doubtless  ob- 
served were  being  so  carefully  stored  away  there 
in  the  shady  retreat. 

And  now  my  pretty  black  butterfly  —  no,  it 
proved  to  be  the  little  day-flying  grape-vine-moth, 
the  eight-spotted  black  Alypia  —  appeared  from 
some  unseen   source,  and   spun   his  crapy   white- 


A   HONEY-DEW   PICNIC  l6l 

streaked  halo  among  the  leaves,  at  length  settling 
among  a  little  company  of  flies.  Softly  behind 
him  creeps  a  brown  wasp  (Po/is/cs),  with  his 
mouth  watering,  while  from  the  opposite  quarter 
a  steel-blue  mud-wasp  approaches,  with  apparently 
similar  designs.  Neither  invader  sees  the  other. 
Simultaneously,  as  though  answering  to  a  signal, 
the  two  make  a  dash  at  the  moth ;  but  he  is  too 
quick  for  them.  In  a  twinkling  he  is  off  in  his 
pretty  halo  again,  while  the  two  disappointed  con- 
testants have  clinched,  and  with  stings  and  jaws 
vigorously  plying  fall  to  the  jungle  below,  and 
seek  satisfaction  in  mortal  combat. 

Here  is  a  pretty  little  yellow  and  black  banded 
flower-fly,  which  is  having  a  quiet  little  picnic  all 
by  himself  on  a  bed  of  yarrow  bloom  close  by. 
But  a  big  black  paper-hornet  has  suddenly  seen 
an  attraction  hither  also,  and  is  soon  creeping 
stealthily  among  the  blossoms  with  a  wild  and 
hungry  look.  But  the  hornets  seemed  to  waste 
their  time  on  the  flies.  Seeminoflv  confident  in 
their  less  complicated  wing  machinery,  the  two- 
winged  fly  rarely  sought  escape  until  within  very 
close  range  of  his  enemy,  and  his  resources  never 
seemed  to  disappoint  him  at  the  critical  moment. 

Among  the  insect  assemblage  was  a  large  num- 
ber of   ants   of  all  kinds  and  sizes,  the  common 


l62  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

large  black  species  being  conspicuous.  Here  is 
one  creeping  and  sipping  along  a  grass  stem.  A 
small  digger-wasp  likes  this  grass  stem  too,  but 
instead  of  exchanging  courtesies  on  the  subject, 
the  wasp  proceeds  to  bite  the  ant's  head  off  with- 
out ceremony,  and  continues  sipping  at  the  stem 
as  though  decapitation  were  a  mere  casual  inci- 
dent in  its  daily  walk. 

On  the  same  stem  a  big  blowfly  has  alighted. 
Judging  from  appearances,  he  has  had  his  fill  of 
good  things,  and  is  now  making  his  leisurely  toi- 
let in  the  peculiar  fashion  of  his  kind,  rubbing 
down  his  back  and  wings  with  his  hind  legs,  twist- 
ing his  front  feet  into  spirals,  and  ever  and  anon 
testing  the  strength  of  his  elastic  neck  attach- 
ment as  he  threatens  to  pull  his  head  from  his 
body. 

This  worldly  act  has  been  progressing  for  some 
moments  under  the  gaze  of  a  big  black  digger- 
wasp,  who  now  concludes  to  cut  it  short.  When 
at  close  range  with  his  prey,  the  fly  suddenly  dis- 
covers the  unhealthy  location  which  he  occupies, 
and  actually  protruding  his  tongue  by  way  of 
parting  salute,  he  is  off  with  a  buzz.  He  has 
barely  taken  wing,  however,  when  a  still  louder 
buzz  is  heard,  while  a  great  black  bumblebee  fol- 
lows closely  in  his  wake,  until  the  sounds  of  both 


A    HONEY-DEW    PICNIC  163 

are  lost  in  the  distance.     The  hum  of  this  bum- 
blebee is  a  frequent  musical  feature  of  the  enter- 
tainment, and  many  is  the  dance  that  is  set  to  its 
minstrelsy,  as  the  burly  insect  darts  in  among  the 
merrymakers  and  is  off  to  his  perch  near  by.     It 
is  only  as  we  steal  away  and  observe  him  closely 
that  we  learn  the  secret  of  his  occasional  sorties. 
There  on  a  clover  blossom  he  sits — sipping  hon- 
ey.?     Oh   no.     It  is  honey-dew  that  he  is  enjoy- 
ing, and  second-hand  at  that,  as  he  devours  the 
satiated   bluebottle-fly   which    is   empaled  on   his 
black  horny  beak.     For  this  is  only  a  bumblebee 
m  masquerade — a  carnivorous  fly,  in  truth,  which, 
safe  in  its  disguise  of  respectability,  hovers  in  the 
flowery  haunts   of  the   innocents   and,  of  course, 
reaps  his  reward. 

And  what  is  this  ?  A  yellow-jacket  has  found 
an  ambrosial  attraction  here  upon  the  bramble 
leaf.  Meanwhile  a  great  black  and  white  paper- 
hornet  has  seen  his  opportunity,  and  is  soon  slyly 
approaching  behind  the  sipper.  That  he  has  de- 
signs on  that  jacket  and  its  contents  is  apparent. 
In  a  moment  the  onslaught  is  consummated,  and 
in  the  struggle  which  ensues  the  black  assailant 
relieves  his  victim  — of  his  watch  presumably,  for 
he  has  captured  the  entire  garment,  which  he  soon 
rifles  and  discards  with  some  show  of  satisfaction. 


164  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

And  so  my  carnival  proceeds.  So  it  began 
with  the  dawn ;  so  it  will  continue  till  dusk ;  and 
through  the  night,  with  new  revels,  for  aught  I 
know,  and  will  be  prolonged  for  days  or  weeks. 

Reflective  reader,  how  often,  as  you  have 
strolled  throuo^h  some  nook  in  the  suburban 
wood,  have  you  paused  in  philosophic  mood  at 
the  motley  relics  of  good  cheer  which  sophisti- 
cated the  retreat,  so  pathetically  eloquent  of  pris- 
tine joys  to  which  you  had  been  a  stranger? 
Here  in  my  present  picnic  is  the  suggestive  par- 
allel, for  even  though  no  such  actual  episodes  as 
those  I  have  described  had  been  witnessed  by 
me,  an  examination  of  the  premises  beneath  my 
bramble  were  a  sufficient  commentary.  These 
were  the  unimpeachable  witnesses  of  the  pleas- 
ures which  I  have  pictured.  Dismembered  but- 
terfly wings  strewed  the  grassy  jungle,  among 
which  were  a  fair  sprinkling  from  that  black  and 
white  halo  already  noted.  Occasional  dead  wasps 
and  detached  members  of  wasp  and  hornet  anato- 
my were  frequent,  while  the  blue  glitter  of  the 
bodies  of  flies  lit  up  a  shadowy  recess  here  and 
there,  showing  that  Musca  had  not  always  so  cor- 
rectly gauged  his  comparative  wing  resources  as 
my  observation  had  indicated. 


A   HOXEY-DEW    PICNIC  165 

It  was  interesting  to  discover,  too,  down  deep 
among  the  herbage,  another  suggestive  fact  in  the 
presence  of  a  shrewd  spider  that  showed  a  keen 
eye  to  the  main  chance,  and  had  spread  his  gos- 
samer catch-all  beneath  the  bramble.  It  was  all 
grist  into  his  mill,  and  no  doubt  his  charnel-house 
at  the  base  of  his  silken  tunnel  could  have  borne 
eloquent  testimony  alike  to  his  wise  sagacity  and 
his  epicurean  luxury. 

I  have  pictured  my  picnic,  and  the  question 
naturally  arises,  what  was  it  all  about — what  the 
occasion  for  this  celebration  ?  There  was  cer- 
tainly no  distinct  visible  cause  for  the  social  gath- 
ering upon  this  particular  bramble -bush.  There 
were  a  number  of  other  bramble- bushes  in  the 
near  neighborhood  which,  it  would  seem,  should 
possess  equal  attractions,  but  which  were  ignored. 
In  what  respect  did  the  one  selected  differ  from 
the  others  ? 

This  bramble  had  become  the  scene  of  mv  car- 
nival  simply  because  it  chanced  to  be  directly  be- 
neath an  overhanging  branch  of  pine  some  twen- 
ty feet  above.  Here  dwelt  mine  host  who  had 
issued  the  invitations  and  spread  the  feast,  the 
limb  for  about  a  foot  space  being  surrounded  by 
a  colony  of  aphides,  or  plant-lice,  from  whose  dis- 
tilling pipes   the   rain   of   sweet   honey -dew  had 


l66  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

fallen  ceaselessly  upon  the  leaves  below.  The 
flies,  butterflies,  and  ants  had  been  attracted,  as 
always,  by  its  sweets ;  the  preoccupied  convivial 
flies,  in  turn,  were  a  tempting  bait  for  the  wasps 
and  hornets,  and  my  dragonfly  and  mock  bumble- 
bee found  a  similar  attraction  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

An  examination  of  the  trunk  of  the  pine 
showed  the  inevitable  double  procession  of  ants, 
both  up  and  down  the  tree,  with  the  habitual  in- 
terchange of  comment;  and  could  we  but  have 
obtained  a  closer  glimpse  of  the  pine  branch 
above,  we  might  certainly  have  observed  the 
queer  spectacle  of  the  small  army  of  ants  inter- 
spersed everywhere  among  the  swarm  of  aphides. 
Not  in  antagonism ;  indeed,  quite  the  reverse ; 
herders,  in  truth,  jealously  guarding  their  feeding- 
flock,  creeping  among  them  with  careful  tread, 
caressing  them  with  their  antenna  while  they 
sipped  at  the  honeyed  pipes  everywhere  upraised 
in  most  expressive  and  harmonious  welcome. 

This  intimate  and  friendly  association  of  the 
ants  and  aphides  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
interesting  scientific  investigation  and  surprising 
discovery.  Huber  and  Lubbock  have  given  to 
the  world  many  startling  facts,  the  significance  of 
which  may  be  gathered  from  the  one  statement 


A   IIONEV-DEW    PICNIC 


167 


that  certain  species  of  ants  carry  their  devotion 
so  far  as  literally  to  cultivate  the  aphides,  carrying 
them  bodily  into  their  tunnels,  where  they  are 
placed  in  underground  pens,  reared  and  fed  and 
utilized  in  a  manner  which  might  well  serve  as  a 
pattern  for  the  modern  dairy  farm.  Indeed,  after 
all  that  we  have  already  seen  upon  a  single  bram- 
ble -  bush,  would  it  be  taking  too  much  license 
with  fact  to  add  one  more  pictorial  chronicle — an 
exhilarated  and  promiscuous  group  of  butterflies, 
ants,  hornets,  wasps,  and  flies  uniting  in  "  a  health 
to  the  jolly  aphis  "? 


A  FEW  NATIVE  ORCHIDS  AND 
THEIR  INSECT  SPONSORS 


A  Few 
Native  Orchids 

and  Their 
Insect   Sponsors 


IN  a  previous  article  I  discussed  the  general 
subject  of  the  fertilization  of  flowers,  briefly 
outlininc^  the  several  historical  and  chronoloQ-. 
ical  steps  which  ultimately  led  to  Darwin's  tri- 
umphant revelation  of  the  divine  plan  of  "cross- 
fertilization  "  as  the  mystery  which  had  so  long 
been  hidden  beneath  the  forms  and  faces  of  the 
flowers. 

In  the  same  paper  I  presented  many  illustra- 


172  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

tive  examples  among  our  common  wild  flowers 
possessing  marvellous  evolved  devices,  mechan- 
isms, and  peculiarities  of  form  by  which  this  nec- 
essary cross-fertilization  was  assured. 

Prior  to  Darwin's  time  the  flower  was  a  voice 
in  the  wilderness,  heard  only  in  faintest  whispers, 
and  by  the  few.  But  since  his  day  they  have 
bloomed  with  fresher  color  and  more  convinc- 
ing perfume.  Science  brought  us  their  message. 
Demoralizing  as  it  certainly  was  to  humanity's 
past  ideals,  philosophic,  theologic,  and  poetic,  it 
bore  the  spirit  of  absolute  conviction,  and  must 
be  heard. 

What  a  contrast  this  winged  botany  of  to-day 
to  that  of  a  hundred  years  ago !  The  flower  now 
no  longer  the  mere  non-committal,  structural, 
botanical  specimen.  No  longer  the  example  of 
mere  arbitrary,  independent  creation,  reverently 
and  solely  referred  to  the  orthodox  "  delight  of 
man."  The  blossom  whose  unhappy  fate  was  be- 
moaned by  the  poet  because,  forsooth,  it  must 
needs  "  blush  unseen,"  or  "  waste  its  sweetness  on 
the  desert  air,"  is  found  alone  in  that  musty  hor- 
tus  siccus  of  a  blind  and  deluded  past.  From  the 
status  of  mere  arbitrary  creation,  however  "  beau- 
tiful," "  curious,"  "  eccentric,"  hitherto  accepted 
alone  on  faith  —  "it  is  thus  because  it  is  created 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS  1 73 

thus:  what  need  to  ask  the  reason  why?" — it  has 
become  a  part  of  our  inspiring  heritage,  a  reason- 
able, logical,  comprehensible  result,  a  manifesta- 
tion of  a  beautiful  divine  scheme,  and  is  thus  an 
ever-present  witness  and  prophet  of  divine  care 
and  supervision. 

The  flower  of  to-day  !  What  an  inspiration  to 
our  reverential  study !  What  a  new  revelation  is 
borne  upon  its  perfume !  Its  forms  and  hues, 
what  invitations  to  our  devotion !  This  spot 
upon  the  petal ;  this  peculiar  quality  of  perfume 
or  odor;  this  fringe  within  the  throat;  this  curv- 
ing stamen  ;  this  slender  tube  !  What  a  cate- 
chism to  one  who  knows  that  each  and  all  repre- 
sent an  ailfinity  to  some  insect,  towards  whose 
vital  companionship  the  flower  has  been  adapting 
itself  through  the  ages,  looking  to  its  own  more 
certain  perpetuation  ! 

The  great  Linnaeus  would  doubtless  have 
claimed  to  "  know  "  the  "  orchid,"  which  perhaps 
he  named.  Indeed,  did  he  not  "know"  it  to  the 
core  of  its  physical,  if  not  of  its  physiological,  be- 
ing .-^  But  could  he  have  solved  the  riddle  of  the 
orchid's  persistent  refusal  to  set  a  pod  in  the 
conservatory }  Could  he  have  divined  why  the 
orchid  blossom  continues  in  bloom  for  weeks  and 
weeks    in   this    artificial    glazed    tropic  —  perhaps 


174  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

weeks  lono;er  than  its  more  fortunate  fellows  left 
behind  in  their  native  haunts — and  then  only  to 
wither  and  perish  without  requital  ?  Know  the 
orchid  ? — without  the  faintest  idea  of  the  veritable 
divorce  which  its  kidnapping  had  involved ! 

Thanks  to  the  new  dispensation,  we  may  in- 
deed claim  a  deeper  sympathy  with  the  flower 
than  is  implied  in  a  mere  recognition  of  its  pretty 
face.  We  know  that  this  orchid  is  but  the  half  of 
itself,  as  it  were ;  that  its  color,  its  form,  however 
eccentric  and  incomprehensible,  its  twisted  in- 
verted position  on  its  individual  stalk -like  ovary, 
its  slender  nectary,  its  carefully  concealed  pollen — 
all  are  anticipations  of  an  insect  complement,  a 
long-tongued  night-moth  perhaps,  with  whose  life, 
its  own  is  mysteriously  linked  through  the  sweet 
bond  of  perfume  and  nectar,  and  in  the  sole  hope 
of  posterity. 

And  the  flower  had  been  stolen  from  its  haunt 
while  its  consort  slept,  and  had  awakened  in  a 
glazed  prison — doubtless  sufficiently  comfortable, 
save  for  the  absence  of  that  one  indispensable 
counterpart,  towards  whom  we  behold  in  the  blos- 
som's very  being  the  embodied  expression  of  wel- 
come. 

Blooming  day  after  day  in  anticipation  of  his 
coming,  and  week  after  week  still  hoping  against 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS  175 

hope,  we  see  the  flower  fade  upon  its  stalk,  and 
with  what  one  might  verily  believe  to  be  evi- 
dences of  disconsolation,  were  it  not  that  the 
ultra -scientist  objects  to  such  a  sentimental  as- 
sumption with  regard  to  a  flower,  which  is  un- 
fortunate enough  to  show  no  sign  of  nerves  or 
gray  matter  in  its  composition.  Who  shall  claim 
to  know  his  orchid  who  knows  not  its  insect 
sponsor  ? 

To  take  one  of  our  own  wild  species.  Here  is 
the  Arethusa  bulbosa  of  Linnaeus,  for  instance. 
Its  pollen  must  reach  its  stigma— so  he  supposed 
— in  order  for  the  flower  to  become  fruitful.  But 
this  is  clearly  impossible,  as  the  pollen  never 
leaves  its  tightly  closed  box  unless  removed  by 
outside  aid,  which  aid  must  also  be  required  to 
place  it  upon  the  stigma.  This  problem,  which 
confronted  him  in  practically  every  orchid  he  met, 
Linnsus,  nor  none  of  his  contemporaries,  nor  in- 
deed his  followers  for  many  years,  ever  solved. 

Not  until  the  time  of  Christian  Conrad  Spren- 
gel  (1735)  did  this  and  other  similar  riddles  bemn 
to  be  cleared  up,  that  distinguished  observer  hav- 
ing been  the  first  to  discover  in  the  honey -sip- 
ping insect  the  key  to  the  omnipresent  mystery. 
Many  flowers,  he  discovered,  were  so  constructed 
or  so  planned  that   their  pollen  could  7wt  reach 


176  MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

their  own  stigmas,  as  previously  believed.  The 
insect,  according  to  Sprengel,  enjoyed  the  anoma- 
lous distinction  of  having  been  called  in,  in  the 
emergency,  to  fulfil  this  apparent  default  in  the 
plain  intentions  of  nature,  as  shown  in  the  flower. 
Attracted  by  the  color  and  fragrance  of  the  blos- 
som, with  their  implied  invitation  to  the  assured 
feast  of  nectar,  the  insect  visited  the  flower,  and 
thus  became  dusted  with  the  pollen,  and  in  creep- 
ing or  flying  out  from  it  conveyed  the  fecundat- 
ing grains  to  the  receptive  stigma,  which  they 
could  not  otherwise  reach.  Such  was  Sprengel's 
belief,  which  he  endeavored  to  substantiate  in  an 
exhaustive  volume  containing  the  result  of  his  ob- 
servations pursuant  to  this  theory. 

But  Sprengel  had  divined  but  half  the  truth. 
The  insect  was  necessary,  it  was  true,  but  the 
Sprengel  idea  was  concerned  only  with  the  indi- 
vidual flower,  and  the  great  botanist  was  soon 
perplexed  and  confounded  by  an  opposing  array 
of  facts  which  completely  destroyed  the  authority 
of  his  work  —  facts  which  showed  conclusively 
that  the  insect  could  not  thus  convey  the  pollen 
as  described,  because  the  stigma  in  the  flower  was 
either  not  yet  ready  to  receive  it — perhaps  tightly 
closed  against  it — or  was  past  its  receptive  period, 
even  decidedly  withered. 


■A  ^    n 


178  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

This  radical  assumption  of  fertilization  in  the 
individual  flower,  which  lay  at  the  base  of  Spren- 
gel's  theory,  thus  so  completely  exposed  as  false, 
discredited  his  entire  work.  The  good  was  con- 
demned with  the  bad,  and  the  noble  volume  was 
lost  in  comparative  oblivion  —  only  to  be  finally 
resurrected  and  its  full  value  and  significance  re- 
vealed by  the  keen  scientific  insight  of  Darwin 
(1859).  From  the  new  stand -point  of  evolution 
through  natural  selection  the /ac/s  in  Sprengel's 
work  took  on  a  most  important  significance. 
Darwin  now  reafHrmed  the  Sprengel  theory  so 
far  as  the  necessity  of  the  insect  was  concerned, 
but  showed  that  all  those  perplexing  floral  condi- 
tions which  had  disproved  Sprengel's  assumption, 
instead  of  having  for  their  object  the  conveying 
of  pollen  to  the  stigma  of  the  same  flower,  implied 
its  transfer  to  the  stigma  of  another,  cross-fertili- 
zation being  the  evident  design,  or  evolved  and 
perpetuated  advantage. 

This  solution  was  made  logical  and  tenable 
only  on  the  assumption  that  such  evolved  con- 
ditions, insuring  cross -fertilization,  were  of  dis- 
tinct advantage  to  the  flower  in  the  competitive 
struesle  for  existence,  and  that  all  cross  -  fertil- 
ized  flowers  were  thus  the  final  result  of  natural 
selection. 


A   FEW   NATIVE    ORCHIDS  179 

The   early   ancestors  of  this   flower  were  self- 
fertilized ;    a   chance  seedling    at    length,  among 
other  continual   variations,  showed    the   sino-ular 
variation  of  ripening  its  stigma  in  advance  of  its 
pollen — or  other  condition  insuring  cross-fertiliza- 
tion— thus  acquiring  a  strain  of  fresh  vigor.     The 
seedlings  of  this  flower,  coming  now  into  compe- 
tition   with    the    existing    weaker    self -fertilized 
forms,  by  the  increased  vigor  won  in  the  struo-o-le 
of  their   immediate   surroundings,  and   inheritino- 
the   peculiarity    of    their   parent,  showed    flowers 
possessing  the  same  cross-fertilizing  device.     The 
seeds  from  these,  again  scattering,  continued  the 
unequal  struggle  in  a  larger  and  larger  field  and 
in  increasing  numbers,  continually  crowding  out 
all   their  less  vigorous   competitors   of  the  same 
species,  at  length  to  become  entire  masters  of  the 
field  and  the  only  representatives  left  to  perpetu- 
ate the  line  of  descent. 

Thus  we  find  in  almost  every  flower  we  meet 
some  astonishing  development  by  which  this 
cross -fertilization  is  effected,  by  which  the  trans- 
ferrence  of  the  pollen  from  one  flower  to  the  stio-- 
ma  of  another  is  assured,  largely  through  the 
agency  of  insects,  frequently  by  the  wind  and 
water,  occasionally  by  birds.  In  many  cases  this 
is  assured  by  the  pollen -bearing  flowers  and  stig- 


l80  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

matic  flowers  being  entirely  distinct,  as  in  cucum- 
bers and  Indian-corn;  perhaps  on  different  plants, 
as  in  the  palms  and  willows ;  again  by  the  pollen 
maturing  and  disseminating  before  the  stigma  is 
mature,  as  already  mentioned,  and  vice  versa. 

From  these,  the  simplest  forms,  we  pass  on  to 
more  and  more  complicated  conditions,  anomalies 
of  form  and  structure — devices,  mechanisms,  that 
are  past  belief  did  we  not  observe  them  in  actual- 
ity with  our  own  eyes,  as  well  as  the  absolutely 
convincing  demonstration  of  the  intention  em- 
bodied :  exploding  flowers,  shooting  flowers,  flow- 
er-traps, stamen  embraces,  pollen  showers,  pollen 
plasters,  pollen  necklaces,  and  floral  pyrotechnics 
— all  demonstrations  in  the  floral  etiquette  of  wel- 
come and  au  revoir  to  insects. 

From  the  simplest  and  regular  types  of  flowers, 
as  in  the  buttercup,  we  pass  on  to  more  and  more 
involved  and  unsymmetrical  forms,  as  the  colum- 
bine, monk's -hood,  larkspur,  aristolochia,  and  thus 
finally  to  the  most  highly  specialized  or  involved 
forms  of  all,  as  seen  in  the  orchid — the  multifari- 
ous, multiversant  orchid  ;  the  beautiful  orchid  ;  the 
ugly  orchid;  the  fragrant  orchid;  the  fetid  orchid; 
the  graceful,  homely,  grotesque,  uncanny,  mimetic, 
and,  until  the  year  1859,  the  absolutely  non-com- 
mittal and  inexplicable  flower;  the  blossom  which 


A    FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS  i8l 

had  waited  tli rough  the  ages  for  Darwin,  its 
chosen  interpreter,  ere  she  yielded  her  secret  to 
humanity. 

And  what  is  an  orchid  ?  How  are  we  to  know 
that  this  blossom  which  we  plucked  is  an  orchid  ? 
The  average  reader  will  exclaim,  "  Because  it  is 
an  air-plant"  —  the  essential  requisite,  it  would 
seem,  in  the  popular  mind.  Of  over  3000  known 
species  of  orchids,  it  is  true  a  great  majority  are 
air-plants,  or  epiphytes  —  growing  upon  trees  and 
other  plants,  obtaining  their  sustenance  from  the 
air,  and  not  truly  parasitic;  but  of  the  fifty-odd 
native  species  of  the  northeastern  United  States, 
not  one  is  of  this  character,  all  growing  in  the 
ground,  like  other  plants.  It  is  only  by  the  botan- 
ical structure  of  the  flowers  that  the  orchid  may 
be  readily  distinguished,  the  epiphytic  character 
being  of  little  significance  botanically. 

A  brief  glance  at  this  structural  peculiarity 
may  properly  precede  our  more  elaborate  con- 
sideration of  a  few  species  of  these  remarkable 
flowers. 

The  orchids  are  usually  very  irregular,  and  six- 
parted.  The  ovary  is  one -celled,  and  becomes  a 
pod  containing  an  enormous  yield  of  minute,  al- 
most spore-like,  seeds  (Fig.  3)  in  some  species,  as 
in  the  vanilla  pod,  to  the  number  of  a  million,  and 


l82 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


in  one  species  of  the  maxillaria,  as  has  been  care- 
fully computed,  1,750,000. 

The  pollen,  unlike  ordinary  flowers,  is  gathered 
together  in  waxy  masses  of  varying  consistency, 
variously  formed  and  disposed  in  the  blossom,  its 
grains  being  connected  with  elastic  cobwebby 
threads,  which  occasionally  permit  the  entire  mass 
to  be  stretched  to  four  or  five  times  its  length, 
and    recover    its    original    shape    when    released. 

This  is  noticeable  spe- 
cially in  the  O.  spec  fab  i- 
lis,  later  described.  The 
strains  thus  united  are 
readily  disentangled  from 
their  mass  when  brouorht 
into  contact  with  a  viscid 
object,  as,  for  instance,  the 


FifT.  1 


stigma. 


But  the  most  significant  botanical  contrast  and 
distinction  is  found  in  the  union  of  the  style  and 
stamens  in  one  organ,  called  the  column  (Fig.  2), 
the  stigma  and  the  pollen  being  thus  disposed 
upon  a  single  common  stalk.  The  contrast  to 
the  Ordinary  flower  will  be  readily  appreciated 
by  comparison  of  the  accompanying  diagrams 
(Fig.  I). 

When,  therefore,  we   find   a  blossom  with    the 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


183 


anthers  or  pollen  receptacle  united  to  a  stalk 
upon  which  the  stigma  is  also  placed,  we  have  an 
orchid. 

The    order  is   further    remarkable,  as    Darwin 
first  demonstrated  in  his  wonderful  volume  "  The 


a.  Anther. 


s.  Stiama. 


Fic  2 


Fertilization  of  Orchids,"  in  that  the  entire  group, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  are  absolutely  depend- 
ent upon  insects  for  their  perpetuation  through 
seed.  They  possess  no  possible  resource  for 
self-fertilization  in  the  neglect  of  these  insect 
sponsors. 

Many  of  our  common  wild  flowers,  as  perfectly 
and  effectually  planned  for  cross -fertilization  as 
the  orchids,  do  retain  the  reserve  power  of  final 
j-^^-fertilization  if  unfertilized  by  foreign  pollen. 

But  the  orchid  has  lost  such  power,  and  in 
the  progress  of  evolution  has  gradually  adapted 
itself  to  the  insect,  often  to  a  particular  species 
of   insect,  its    sole   sponsor,  which    natural   selec- 


1 84 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


tion  has  again  gradually  modified  in  relation  to 
the  flower. 

The  above  work  by  Darwin  was  mostly  con- 
cerned with  foreign  species,  generally  under  arti- 
ficial cultivation,  and  so  startling  were  the  disclos- 
ures concerning  these  hitherto  sphinx-like  floral 
beings   that  a  most   extensive  bibliography  soon 

attested  the  widespread  inspi- 
ration and  interest  awakened 
by  its  pages. 

But  it  is  by  no  means  nec- 
essary to  visit  the  tropics  or 
the  conservatory  for  exam- 
ples of  these  wonders.  Our 
own  Asa  Gray,  one  of  Dar- 
win's instant  proselytes,  was 
prompt  to  demonstrate  that 
the  commonest  of  our  native 
American  species  might  af- 
ford revelations  quite  as  as- 
tonishing as  those  exotic  species  which  Darwin 
had  described. 

During  a  period  of  many  years  the  writer  has 
devoted  much  study  to  our  native  species  of  or- 
chids from  this  evolutionary  stand-point  of  their 
cross  -  fertilization  tendencies.  Of  the  following 
examples,  selected  from  his  list,  some  are  elabora- 


Ffg   3 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS  185 

tions  of  previous  descriptions  of  Gray  and  others, 
though  pictorially  and  descriptively  the  result  of 
direct  original  study  from  nature ;  others  are  from 
actual  observation  of  the  insects  at  work  on  the 
flowers ;  and  others  still,  original  demonstrations 
based  upon  analogy  and  the  obvious  intention  of 
the  floral  construction,  the  action  of  the  insect — 
its  head  or  tongue — having  been  artificially  imi- 
tated by  pins,  bristles,  or  other  probe-like  bodies. 

How  many  an  enthusiastic  flower -hunter  has 
plucked  his  fragrant  bouquet  of  the  beautiful 
Arethusa,  in  its  sedgy  haunt,  without  a  suspicion 
of  the  beautiful  secret  which  lay  beneath  its  sin- 
gular form !  Indeed,  how  many  a  learned  bota- 
nist, long  perfectly  familiar  with  its  peculiarities 
of  shape  and  structure,  has  been  entirely  content 
with  this  simple  fact,  nor  cared  to  seek  further  for 
its  interpretation !     But 

"  All  may  have  the  flower  now, 
For  all  have  s;;;ot  the  seed." 

With  Darwin  as  our  guide  and  the  insect  as 
our  key — an  open  sesame — the  hidden  treasure  is 
revealed.  It  is  now  quite  possible,  as  Darwin 
demonstrated,  to  look  upon  a  flower  for  the  first 
time  and  from  its  structure  foretell  the  method  of 
its  intended  cross-fertilization  ;  nay,  more,  possibly 


1 86  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

the  kind,  or  even  the  species,  of  insect  to  which 
this  cross-fertilization  is  intrusted. 

Let  us  look  at  our  Arethusa.  The  writer  has 
never  happened  to  observe  an  insect  at  work 
upon  this  flower,  but  the  intention  of  its  structure 
is  so  plain  that  by  a  mere  examination  we  may 
safely  prophesy  not  only  what  must  happen  v^hen 
the  insect  seeks  its  nectar,  but  with  equal  assur- 
ance the  kind  of  insect  thus  invited  and  expected. 
I  have  indicated  a  group  of  the  orchids  in  their 
usual  marshy  haunt,  and  in  Fig.  4,  separately,  a 
series  of  diagrams  presents  sections  of  the  flower, 
natural  size  and  duly  indexed,  which  renders  de- 
tailed description  hardly  necessary.  The  column 
is  here  quite  elongated,  forked  at  the  tip,  the 
space  between  the  forks  occupied  by  the  anther, 
which  is  hinged  to  the  upper  division.  This 
anther  lid  is  closed  tightly,  with  the  sticky  mass 
of  pollen  hidden  behind  it  in  the  cavity.  The 
stiema  is  on  the  external  inner  side  of  the  lower 
division,  and  thus  distinctly  separated  from  the 
pollen.  The  "  lip  "  is  extended  forward  as  a  hos- 
pitable threshold  to  the  insect.  And  to  what  in- 
sect might  we  assume  this  invitation  of  color,  fra- 
grance, nectar,  and  threshold  to  be  extended  ? 

Let  us  consider  the  flower  simply  as  a  device 
to  insure  its  own  cross -fertilization.     The  insect 


A    FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS  1 8/ 

is  welcomed;  it  must  alight  and  sip  the  nectar; 
in  departing  it  must  bear  away  this  pollen  upon 
its  body,  and  convey  it  to  the  next  Arethusa  blos- 
som which  it  visits,  and  leave  it  upon  its  stigma. 
These  are  the  conditions  expressed ;  and  how 
admirably  they  are  fulfilled  we  may  observe  when 
we  examine  flower  after  flower  of  a  group,  and 
find  their  nectaries  drained,  their  anther  cells 
empty,  and  pollen  upon  all  their  stigmas.  The 
nectar  is  here  secreted  in  a  well — not  very  deep — 
and  the  depth  of  this  nectar  from  the  entrance  is 
of  great  significance  among  all  the  flowers,  having 
distinct  reference  to  the  length  of  the  tongue 
which  is  expected  to  sip  it.  In  the  Arethusa,  it 
is  true,  the  butterfly  or  moth  might  sip  at  the 
throat  of  the  flower,  but  the  long  tongues  of  these 
insects  might  permit  the  nectary  to  be  drained 
without  bringing  their  bodies  in  contact  with  the 
stigma.  Smaller  insects  might  creep  into  the 
nectary  and  sip  without  the  intended  fulfilment. 
It  is  clear  that  to  neither  of  such  visitors  is  the 
welcome  extended.  What,  then,  are  the  condi- 
tions embodied  1  The  insect  must  have  a  tongue 
of  such  a  length  that,  when  in  the  act  of  sipping, 
its  head  must  pass  beyond  the  anther  well  into 
the  opening  of  the  flower.  Its  body  must  be 
sufficiently  large  to  come  in  contact  with  the  an- 


1 88  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

ther.  Such  requisites  are  perfectly  fulfilled  by 
the  humblebee,  and  we  may  well  hazard  the 
prophecy  that  the  Bombus  is  the  welcomed  affini- 
ty of  the  flower. 

The  diagrams  (Fig.  4)  sufliciently  illustrate  the 
efficacy  of  the  beautiful  plan  involved.  At  A 
the  bee  is  seen  sipping  the  nectar.     His  forward 


Fig.  4 


movement  thus  far  to  this  point  has  only  seemed 
to  press  the  edge  of  the  anther  inward,  and  thus 
keep  it  even  more  effectually  closed.  As  the  bee 
retires  (B),  the  backward  motion  opens  the  lid, 
and  the  sticky  pollen  is  thus  brought  against  the 
insect's  back,  where  it  adheres  in  a  solid  mass. 
He  now  flies  to  the  next  Arethusa  blossom,  enters 
it  as  before,  and  in  retiring  slides  his  back  against 
the  receptive  viscid  stigma,  which  retains  a  por- 
tion of  the  pollen,  and  thus  effects  the  cross-fer- 
tilization (C).     Professor  Gray  surmised  that  the 


A    FEW    NATIVE    ORCHIDS  1 89 

pollen  was  withdrawn  on  tlic  insect's  head,  and  it 
might  be  so  withdrawn,  but  in  other  allied  orchids 
of  the  tribe  Arethusa?,  however,  in  which  the 
structure  is  very  similar,  the  pollen  is  deposited 
on  the  thorax,  and  such  is  probably  the  fact  in 
this  species.  In  either  case  cross  -  fertilization 
would  be  effected.  Nothing  else  is  possible  in 
the  flower,  and  whether  it  is  Bombus  or  not  that 
effects  it,  the  method  is  sufficiently  evident. 

Havino-  thus  had  one  initiation  into  this  most 
enticing  realm  of  riddles,  each  successive  orchid 
whose  structure  we  examine  from  this  stand-point 
becomes  a  most  interesting,  perhaps  a  fresh,  prob- 
lem, whose  assumed  solution  may  often  be  veri- 
fied by  studying  the  insect  in  its  haunts.  Dar- 
win thus  foretold  the  precise  manner  of  the 
cross-fertilization  of  Habcnaria  mascnla,  and  also 
the  insect  agent,  simply  by  the  structural  prophe- 
cy of  the  flower  itself. 

Suppose,  for  example,  an  unknown  orchid  blos- 
som to  be  placed  in  our  hands.  Its  nectary  tube 
is  five  inches  in  length,  and  as  slender  as  a  knit- 
tino^-needle.  The  nectar  is  secreted  far  within  its 
lip.  The  evolution  of  the  long  nectary  implies 
an  adaptation  to  an  insect's  tongue  of  ec[ual 
length.  What  insect  has  a  tongue  five  inches 
long,  and   sufficiently  slender  to   probe   this   nee- 


190 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


tary  ?  The  sphinx -moth  only.  Hence  we  infer 
the  sphinx -moth  to  be  the  insect  complement  to 
the  blossom,  and  we  may  correctly  infer,  more- 
over, that    the   flower  is   thus   a    night -bloomer. 

Examination  of  the  flower, 
with  the  form  of  this  moth 
in  mind,  will  show  other 
adaptations  to  the  insect's 
form  in  the  position  of  pol- 
len and  stigma,  looking  to 
the  flower's  cross  -  fertiliza- 
tion. In  some  cases  this 
is  effected  by  the  aid  of 
the  insect's  tongue ;  in  oth- 
ers, by  its  eyes. 

In  our  own  native  orchids 
we  have  a  remarkable  exam- 
ple of  the  latter  form  in  the 
Habenaria  orbictilaia.whoso^ 
structure  and  mechanism 
have  also  been  admirably 
described  by  Asa  Gray. 
All  orchid-hunters  know  this  most  exceptional 
example  of  our  local  flora,  and  the  thrill  of  delight 
experienced  when  one  first  encounters  it  in  the 
mountain  wilderness,  its  typical  haunt,  is  an  event 
to   date   from  —  its    two    great,  glistening,  fluted 


S,  Stigma. 

L,  Lip. 

P,  Pollen-pouch 

N,    Opening    to 

nectary. 
T.  Nectary  tube 
G,  Gland. 


192  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

leaves,  sometimes  as  large  as  a  dinner -plate, 
spreading  flat  upon  the  mould,  and  surmounted 
by  the  slender  leafless  stalk,  with  its  terminal 
loose  raceme  of  greenish-white  bloom. 

A  single  blossom  of  the  species  is  shown  in 
Fig.  5,  the  parts  indexed.  The  opening  to  the 
nectary  is  seen  just  below  the  stigmatic  surface, 
the  nectary  itself  being  nearly  two  inches  in 
length.  The  pollen  is  in  two  club -like  bodies, 
each  hidden  within  a  fissured  pouch  on  either 
side  of  the  stigma,  and  coming  to  the  surface  at 
the  base  in  their  opposing  sticky  discs  as  shown. 
Many  of  the  group  Habenaria  or  Platanthera,  to 
which  this  flower  belongs,  are  similarly  planned. 
But  mark  the  peculiarly  logical  association  of  the 
parts  here  exhibited.  The  nectary  implies  a  wel- 
come to  a  tongue  two  inches  long,  and  will  re- 
ward none  other.  This  clearly  shuts  out  the 
bees,  butterflies,  and  smaller  moths.  What  in- 
sect, then,  is  here  implied  ?  The  sphinx  -  moth 
again,  one  of  the  lesser  of  the  group.  A  larger 
individual  might  sip  the  nectar,  it  is  true,  but  its 
longer  tongue  would  reach  the  base  of  the  tube 
without  effecting  the  slightest  contact  with  the 
pollen,  which  is  of  course  the  desideratum  here 
embodied,  and  which  has  reference  to  a  tongue 
corresponding  to  the  length  of  the  nectary.     There 


A    FEW    NATIVE    ORCHIDS 


193 


are  many  of  these  smaller  sphinxes.  Let  us  sup- 
pose one  to  be  hovering  at  the  blossom's  throat. 
Its  slender  capillary  tongue  enters  the  opening. 
Ere  it  can  reach  the  sweets  the  insect's  head 
must  be  forced  well  into  the  throat  of  the  blos- 
som, where  we  now 
observe  a  most  re- 
markable special  pro- 
vision, the  space  be- 
tween the  two  pollen 
discs  being  exactly  ad- 
justed to  the  diameter 
of  the  insect's  head. 
What  follows  this  en- 
trance of  the  moth 
is  plainly  pictured  in 
the  progressive  series 
of  illustrations  (Fig. 
6).  A  represents  the 
insect  sipping  ;  the 
sticky  discs  are 
brought  in  contact 
with  the  moth's  eyes, 
to  which  they  ad- 
here, and  by  which 
they    are    withdrawn 

from    their    pouches 
13 


Fiff.  6 


194  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

as  the  moth  departs  (B),  At  this  time  they  are 
in  the  upright  position  shown  at  C,  but  in  a  few 
seconds  bend  determinedly  downward  and  sHghtly 
towards  each  other  to  the  position  D.  This  change 
takes  place  as  the  moth  is  flitting  from  flower  to 
flower.  At  E  we  see  the  moth  with  its  tongue 
entering  the  nectary  of  a  subsequent  blossom.  By 
the  new  position  of  the  pollen  clubs  they  are  now 
forced  directly  against  the  stigma  (E).  This  sur- 
face is  viscid,  and  as  the  insect  leaves  the  blossom 
retains  the  grains  in  contact  (F),  which  in  turn 
withdraw  others  from  the  mass  by  means  of  the 
cobwebby  threads  by  which  the  pollen  grains  are 
continuously  attached.  At  G  we  see  the  orchid 
after  the  moth's  visit  —  the  stigma  covered  with 
pollen,  and  the  flower  thus  cross-fertilized. 

In  effecting  the  cross-fertilization  of  one  of  the 
younger  flowers  its  eyes  are  again  brought  into 
contact  with  this  second  pair  of  discs,  and  these, 
with  their  pollen  clubs,  are  in  turn  withdrawn,  at 
length  perhaps  resulting  in  such  a  plastering  of 
the  insect's  eyes  as  might  seriously  impair  its 
vision,  were  it  not  fortunately  of  the  compound 
sort.  '^" 

In  another  allied  example  of  the  orchids — the 
Showy  Orchid — we  have,  however,  what  would 
appear  a  clear  adaptation  to  the  head  of  a  bee. 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


195 


though  one  which  might  also  avail  of  the  service 
of  an  occasional  butterfly.  A  group  of  this  beau- 
tiful species  is  shown  in  my  illustration.  A  favored 
haunt  is  the  dark  damp  woods,  especially  beneath 
hemlocks,  and  with  its  deep  pink  hood  and  pure 
white  lip  is  quite  showy  enough  to  warrant  its 
specific  title,  "  spectabilis."  An  enlarged  view  of 
the  blossom  is  seen  in  Fig.  7,  and  in  Fig.  8  a  still 
greater  enlargement  of  the  column. 


A,  Pollinium.        B,  Webby  connection  between  grains.        C,  Stretched  to  four  times  its  length. 

Fig.  8 


196  MY   STUDIO   NEICxHBORS 

I  have  seen  many  specimens  with  the  pollen 
masses  withdrawn,  and  others  with  their  stigmas 
well  covered  with  the  grains.  Though  I  have 
never  seen  an  insect  at  work  upon  it  in  its  haunt, 
the  whole  form  of  the  opening  of  the  flower 
would  seem  to  imply  a  bee,  particularly  a  bum- 
blebee. If  we  insert  the  point  of  a  lead -pencil 
into  this  opening,  thus  imitating  the  entrance  of  a 
bee,  its  bevelled  surface  comes  in  contact  with  the 
viscid  discs  by  the  rupture  of  a  veil  of  membrane, 
which  has  hitherto  protected  them.  The  discs 
adhere  to  the  pencil,  and  are  withdrawn  upon  it 
(Fig.  9).  At  first  in  upright  position,  they  soon 
assume  the  forward  inclination,  as  previously  de- 
scribed. The  nectary  is  about  the  length  of  a 
bumblebee's  tongue,  and  is,  moreover,  so  amply 
expanded  at  the  throat  below  the  stigma  as  to 
comfortably  admit  its  wedge-shaped  head.  The 
three  progressive  diagrams  (Fig.  10)  indicate  the 
result  in  the  event  of  such  a  visit. 

The  pollen  discs  are  here  very  close  together, 
and  are  protected  within  a  membraneous  cup,  in 
which  they  sit  as  in  a  socket.  As  the  insect  in- 
serts his  head  at  the  opening  (A)  it  is  brought 
against  this  tender  membrane,  which  ruptures  and 
exposes  the  viscid  glands  of  the  pollen  masses, 
which  become   instantly  attached  to  the   face  or 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


197 


*.  "c-^iss^s^as-^ess^-s^!:^,-^ 


head,  perhaps  the  eyes,  of  the  burly  visitor.  As 
the  insect  retreats  from  the  flower,  one  or  both 
of  the  pollinia  are  withdrawn,  as  at  B.  Then  im- 
mediately follows  a  downward  movement,  which 
exactly  anticipates  the 
position  of  the  stigma, 
and  as  the  bee  enters 
the  next  flower  the  pol- 
len clubs  are  forced 
against  it  (C),  as  in  the 
previous  example. 

In  the  case  of  a  smaller  bee  visiting  the  flower, 
the  insect  would  find  it  necessary  to  creep  fur- 
ther into  the  opening,  and  thus  might  bring  its 
thorax  against  the  pollen-glands.  In  either  case 
the  change  of  position  in  the  pollinia  would  in- 
sure the  same  result. 


Fig.  9 


gland 
stigma 
ovarv 


pollen-pouch 
or  dn|-her-cel! 

stiMma// 

ovary^ 


/pollen-pouch 
:/  or  anther-cell, 
pollen  mass 


Fig.  10  A  B 


198 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


We  have  thus  seen  adaptation  to  the  thorax, 
the  eyes,  and  the  face  in  the  three  examples 
given.     And  the  entrance  of  the  flower  in  each 

instance   is   so  formed   as 
to  insure  the  proper  angle 
of  approach  for  the  insect 
for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  desired  result.      This 
direct  approach,  so  neces- 
sary in  many  orchids,  is  in- 
sured  by  various   devices 
— by  the   position   of  the 
lip  upon  which  the  insect 
must  alight ;    by  the  nar- 
rowed entrance   of  the    throat    of    the    flower  in 
front  of  the  nectary;  by  a  fissure  in  the  centre  of 
the  lip,  by  which  the  tongue  is  conducted,  etc. 

Many  other  species  allied  to  the  above  possess 
similar  devices,  with  slight  variations ;  and  there 
is  still  another  group  whose  structure  is  distinctly 
adjusted  to  the  fongues  of  insects  —  adaptations 
not  merely  of  position  of  pollen  masses,  but  even 
to  the  extent  of  a  special  modification  in  the  en- 
trance to  the  flower  and  the  shape  of  the  sticky 
gland,  by  which  it  may  more  securely  adhere  to 
that  sipping  member. 

In  the  common  pretty  Purple -fringed  Orchid, 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


199 


whose  dense  cylindrical  spikes  of  plumy  blossoms 
occasionally  empurple  whole  marshes,  we  have  an 
arrangement  quite  similar  to  the  H.  orbicularis 
just  described,  with  the  exception  that  the  pollen- 
pouches  are  almost  parallel,  and  not  noticeably 
spread  at  the  base  (Fig.  11).  In  this  case  the 
eyes  of  sipping  butterflies  occasionally  get  their 
decoration  of  a  tiny  golden  club,  but  more  fre- 
quently their  tongues. 

If,  however,  the   butterfly  should  approach   di- 
rectly in  front  of  the  flower,  as  in  a  larger  blossom 
he  would  be  most  apt  to  do,  he  might  sip  the  nec- 
tar indefinitely  and  with- 
draw his  tongrue  without 
bringing  it  in  contact  with 
the    viscid    pollen   discs. 
But  in  the  dense   crowd- 
ino'    of   the   flowers,  over 
which  the  insect  flutters 
indiscriminately,  the    ap- 
proach  is   oftenest  made 
obliquely,   and    thus    the 

tongue  brushes  the  disc  on  the  side  approached, 
and  the  pollen  mass  is  withdrawn.  But  an  exam- 
ination of  this  orchid  affords  no  pronounced  evi- 
dence of  any  specific  intention.  There  is  no  un- 
mistakable sign  to  demonstrate  which  approach  is 


Fig.  II 


200 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


preferred  or  designed  by  the  flower,  and  this  de- 
pendence on  the  insects  tongue  or  eye  would 
seem  to  be  left  to  chance. 

In  another  closely  allied  species,  however,  we 
have  a  distinct  provision  which  insures  the  proper 
approach  of  the  tongue — one  of  many  similar  de- 
vices by  which  the  tongue  is  conducted  directly 
to  one  or  the  other  of  the  pollen  discs. 

This  is  the  Rasfo-ed  Orchid,  a  near  relative  of 
the  foregoing,  H.psycodes,  but  far  less  fortunate  in 

its  attributes  of  beauty, 
its  long  scattered  spike 
of  greenish-white  flow- 
ers being  so  inconspic- 
uous in  its  sedgy  haunt 
as  often  to  conceal  the 
fact  of  its  frequency. 
Its  individual  flower  is 
shown  enlarged  at  Fig. 
12  —  the  lip  here  cut 
with  a  lacerated  fringe 
{H.  lacera).  The  pol- 
len -  pouches  approach 
slightly  at  the  base,  directly  opposite  the  nec- 
tary, where  the  two  viscid  pollen  -  glands  stand 
on  guard.  Now  were  the  opening  of  the  nectary 
at    this    point    unimpeded,    the    same    condition 


entrance  to  ' 
nectary,  side 
aperture  of 
opemng  divid 
ed  by  palate 


pollen  pouch, 
stigma 
\  viscid  pollen- 
'and  guard- 
ing opening 


Fig.  12 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS  20I 

would  exist  as  in  the  H.  psycodcs  —  the  tongue 
might  be  inserted  between  the  pollen  discs  and 
withdrawn  without  touching  them.  But  here 
comes  the  remarkable  and  very  exceptional  pro- 
vision to  make  this  contact  a  certainty  —  a  sug- 
gestive structural  feature  of  this  flower  of  which  I 
am  surprised  to  find  no  mention  either  in  our 
botanies  or  in  the  literature  of  cross-fertilization, 
so  far  as  I  am  familiar  with  its  bibliography. 
Even  Dr.  Gray's  description  of  the  fertilization 
device  of  this  species  makes  no  mention  of  this 
singular  and  very  important  feature.  The  nec- 
tary here,  instead  of  being  freely  open,  as  in  other 
orchids  described,  is  abruptly  closed  at  the  central 
portion  by  a  firm  protuberance  or  palate,  which 
projects  downward  from  the  base  of  the  stigma, 
and  closely  meets  the  lip  below. 

The  throat  of  the  nectary,  thus  centrally  di- 
vided, presents  two  small  lateral  openings,  each  of 
which,  from  the  line  of  approach  through  the 
much -narrowed  entrance  of  the  flower,  is  thus 
brought  directly  beneath  the  waiting  disc  upon 
the  same  side.  The  structure  is  easily  under- 
stood from  the  two  diagrams  Figs.  1 2  and  1 3,  both 
of  which  are  indexed. 

The  viscid  pollen-gland  is  here  very  peculiarly 
formed,  elongated  and  pointed  at  each  end,  and  it 


202 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


stisma 


■pollen  pouch 
pollen  ^land 


ovary. 


is  not  until  we  witness  the  act  of  its  removal  on 
the  tongue  of  the  butterfly  that  we  can  fully  ap- 
preciate its  significance. 

I  have  often  seen  butterflies  at  work  upon  this 

orchid,  and  have  ob- 
served their  tongues 
generously  decorated 
with  the  glands  and 
remnants  of  the  pol- 
len masses. 

The  series  of  dia- 
grams (Fig.  14)  will,  I 
think,  fully  demon- 
strate how  this  blos- 
som utilizes  the  but- 
terfly. At  A  we  see  the  insect  sipping,  its 
tono^ue  now  in  contact  with  the  elongated  disc, 
which  adheres  to  and  clasps  it.  The  wdthdraw^al 
of  the  tongue  (B)  removes  the  pollen  from  its 
pouch.  At  C  it  is  seen  entirely  free  and  up- 
right, from  which  position  it  quickly  assumes 
the  new  attitude  shown  at  D.  As  the  tongue 
is  now  inserted  into  the  subsequent  blossom 
this  pollen  mass  is  thrust  against  the  stigma 
(E),  and  a  few  of  the  pollen  grains  are  thus  with- 
held upon  its  viscid  surface  as  the  insect  de- 
parts (F). 


Fig.  13 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


203 


In  this  orchid  we  thus  find  a  distinct  adapta- 
tion to  the  tongue  of  a  moth  or  butterfly. 

Another  simiLir  device  for  assuring  the  neces- 
sary side  approach  is  seen  in  H.flava  (Fig.  15),  a 
yellowish  spiked  species,  more  or  less  common  in 
swamps  and  rich  alluvial  haunts. 


Y\^.  14 


Professor  Wood  remarks,  botanically,  "  The 
tubercle  (or  palate)  of  the  lip  is  a  remarkable 
character."  But  he,  too,  has  failed  to  note  the 
equally  remarkable  palate  of  the  ragged  orchid, 
just  described,  both  provisions  having  the  same 
purpose,  the  insurance  of  an  oblique  approach  to 
the  nectary.     In  H.flava  this  "tubercle,"  instead 


204 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


of  depending  from  the  throat,  grows  upward  from 
the  lip,  and,  as  we  look  at  the  flower  directly  from 
the  front,  completely  hides  the  opening  to  the 
nectary,  and  an  insect  is  compelled  to  insert  its 


Fig.  15 

tongue  on  one  side,  which  direction  causes  it  to 
pass  directly  beneath  the  pollen  disc,  as  in  H. 
lacera,  and  with  the  same  result. 

Of  all  our  native  orchids,  at  least  in  the  north- 
eastern  United  States,  the  Cypripedium,  or  Moc- 


V 


casin-Flower,  is  perhaps  the  gen- 
eral   favorite,  and    certainly    the 
most  widely  known.     This 
is  readily  accounted  for  not 
only   by  its  frequency,  but 
by  its  conspicuousness.  The 
term  "  moccasin-flow- 
er" is   applied   more 
or  less  indiscriminate- 
ly to  all  species.    The 
flower  is  also  known 
as  the  ladies'-slipper, 
more  specifically  Ve- 
nus's-slipper — as  war- 
ranted by  its  generic 
botanical   title — from 
a  fancied  resemblance 
in  the  form  of  the  in- 
flated    lip,    which    is 
characteristic  of  the  se- 
nus.    We  may  readily 
infer  that  the  fair  god- 
dess was  not  consult- 
ed at  the  christening. 

There  are  six  native  species  of  the  cypripedium 
in  this  Eastern  region,  varying  in  shape  and  in 
color — shades  of  white,  yellow,  crimson,  and  pink. 


206  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

The  mechanism  of  their  cross-fertilization  is  the 
same  in  all,  with  only  slight  modifications. 

The  most  common  of  the  group,  the  C.  acatile^ 
most  widely  known  as  the  moccasin-flower,  whose 
large,  nodding,  pale  crimson  blooms  we  so  irre- 
sistibly associate  with  the  cool  hemlock  woods, 
will  afford  a  good  illustration. 

The  lip  in  all  the  cypripediums  is  more  or  less 
sac-like  and  inflated.  In  the  present  species,  C 
acaule,  however,  we  see  a  unique  variation,  this 
portion  of  the  flower  being  conspicuously  bag-like, 
and  cleft  by  a  fissure  down  its  entire  anterior  face. 
In  Fig.  1 6  is  shown  a  front  view  of  the  blossom, 
showing  this  fissure.  The  "  column  "  (B)  in  the 
cypripedium  is  very  distinctive,  and  from  the 
front  view  is  very  non-committal.  It  is  only  as 
we  see  it  in  side  section,  or  from  beneath,  that  we 
fully  comprehend  the  disposition  of  stigma  and 
pollen.  Upon  the  stalk  of  this  column  there  ap- 
pear from  the  front  three  lobes — two  small  ones 
at  the  sides,  each  of  which  hides  an  anther  at- 
tached to  its  under  face — the  large  terminal  third 
lobe  being  in  truth  a  barren  rudiment  of  a  former 
stamen,  and  which  now  overarches  the  stigma. 
The  relative  position  of  these  parts  may  be  seen 
in  the  under  view. 

The  anthers  in  this  genus,  then,  are  two,  instead 


208 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


Profile  View 
of  Column. 


of  the  previous  single  anther  with  its  two  pollen- 
cells.  The  pollen  is  also  quite  different  in  its 
character,  being  here  in  the  form  of  a  pasty  mass, 
whose  entire  exposed  surface,  as  the  anther  opens, 
is  coated  with  a  very  viscid  gluten. 

With  the  several  figures  illustrating  the  cross- 
fertilization,  the 
reader  will  read- 
ily anticipate  any 
description  of  the 
process,  and  only 
a  brief  commen- 
tary will  be  re- 
quired in  my 
text. 

I  have  repeat- 
edly examined 
the  flowers  of  C. 
aca2ilc  in  their 
haunts,  have  ob- 
served groups 
wherein  every  flower  still  retained  its  pollen,  oth- 
ers where  one  or  both  pollen  masses  had  been 
withdrawn,  and  in  several  instances  associated 
with  them  I  have  observed  the  inflated  lip  most 
outrageously  bruised,  torn,  and  battered,  and  occa- 
sionally  perforated   by  a  large   hole.     I   had   ob- 


;afh3 
Under  View  of  Column, 


Fitr.  1 6 


A    FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS  209 

served  these  facts  in  boyhood.  The  inference,  of 
course,  was  that  some  insect  had  been  guilty  of 
the  mutilation  ;  but  not  until  I  read  Darwin's  de- 
scription of  the  cross -fertilization  of  this  species 
did  I  realize  the  full  significance  of  these  telltale 
evidences  of  the  escape  of  the  imprisoned  insect. 
Since  that  time,  many  years  ago,  I  have  often  sat 
long  and  patiently  in  the  haunt  of  the  cypripe- 
dium  awaiting  a  natural  demonstration  of  its 
cross -fertilization,  but  as  yet  no  insect  has  re- 
warded my  devotion. 

At  length,  in  hopelessness  of  reward  by  such 
means,  I  determined  to  see  the  process  by  more 
prosaic  methods.  Gathering  a  cluster  of  the 
freshly  opened  flowers,  which  still  retained  their 
pollen,  I  took  them  to  my  studio.  I  then  cap- 
tured a  bumblebee,  and  forcibly  persuaded  him  to 
enact  the  demonstration  which  I  had  so  long 
waited  for  him  peaceably  to  fulfil.  Taking  him 
by  the  wings,  I  pushed  him  into  the  fissure  by 
which  he  is  naturally  supposed  to  enter  without 
persuasion.  He  was  soon  within  the  sac,  and  the 
inflexed  wings  of  the  margin  had  closed  above 
him,  as  shown  in  section,  Fig.  17.  He  is  now  en- 
closed in  a  luminous  prison,  and  his  buzzing  pro- 
tests are  audible  and  his  vehemence  visible  from 
the  outside  of  the  sac.     Let  us  suppose  that  he 


14 


2IO 


MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


at  length  has  become  reconciled  to  his  condition, 
and  has  determined  to  rationally  fulfil  the  ideal  of 
his  environment,  as  he  may  perhaps  have  already 

done  voluntarily  before. 
The  buzzing  ceases,  and 
our  bee  is  now  finding 
sweet  solace  for  his  in- 
carceration in  the  co- 
pious nectar  which  he 
finds  secreted  among 
the  fringy  hairs  in  the 
upper  narrowed  portion 
of  the  flower,  as  shown 
at  Fig.  1 8  A.  Having 
satiated  his  appetite,  he 
concludes  to  quit  his 
close  quarters.  After  a  few  moments  of  more 
vehement  futile  struggling  and  buzzing,  he  at 
length  espies,  through  the  passage  above  the  nec- 
tary fringe,  a  gleaming  light,  as  from  two  win- 
dows (A).  Towards  these  he  now  approaches. 
As  he  advances  the  passage  becomes  narrower 
and  narrower,  until  at  length  his  back  is  brought 
against  the  overhanging  stigma  (Fig.  i8  B).  So 
narrow  is  the  pass  at  this  point  that  the  efforts  of 
the  bee  are  distinctly  manifest  from  the  outside  in 
the   distension   of  the    part   and   the    consequent 


Fig.  17 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


211 


slight  change  in  the  droop  of  the  lip.  In  another 
moment  he  has  passed  this  ordeal,  and  his  head  is 
seen  protruding  from  the  window -like  opening 
(A)  on  one  side  of  the  column 


But  his  struggles 


Fig.  i8  A 


are  not  yet  ended,  for  his  egress  is  still  slightly 
checked  by  the  narrow  dimensions  of  the  opening, 
and  also  by  the  detention  of  the  anther,  which 
his  thorax  has  now  encountered.  A  strange  eti- 
quette this  of  the  cypripedium,  which  speeds  its 


212  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

parting  guest  with  a  sticky  plaster  smeared  all 
over  its  back.  As  the  insect  works  its  way  be- 
neath the  viscid  contact,  the  anther  is  seen  to  be 
drawn  outward  upon  its  hinge,  and  its  yellow  con- 
tents are  spread  upon  the  insect's  back  (Fig.  i8 
C),  verily  like  a  plaster.  Catching  our  bee  before 
he  has  a  chance  to  escape  with  his  generous 
floral  compliments,  we  unceremoniously  introduce 
him  into  another  C3qDripedium  blossom,  to  which, 
if  he  were  more  obliging,  he  would  naturally  fly. 
He  loses  no  time  in  profiting  by  his  past  experi- 
ence, and  is  quickly  creeping  the  gantlet,  as  it 
were,  or  braving  the  needle's  eye  of  this  narrow 
passage.  His  pollen -smeared  thorax  is  soon 
crowding  beneath  the  overhanging  stigma  again, 
whose  forward- pointed  papillae  scrape  off  a  por- 
tion of  it  (Fig.  1 8  B),  thus  insuring  the  cross-fer- 
tilizing of  the  flower,  the  bee  receiving  a  fresh 
effusion  of  cypripedium  compliments  piled  upon 
the  first  as  he  says  "good-bye."  It  is  doubtful 
whether  in  his  natural  life  he  ever  fully  effaces 
the  telltale  effects  of  this  demonstrative  an  rcvoir. 
Such,  with  slight  modifications,  is  the  plan 
evolved  by  the  whole  cypripedium  tribe.  Darwin 
mentions  bees  as  the  implied  fertilizers,  and 
doubtless  many  of  the  smaller  bees  do  effect 
cross-fertilization  in  the  smaller  species.     But  the 


A    FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


Fig.  i8  B 


more  ample  passage  in  acaule  would  suggest  the 
medium-sized  Bombus  as  better  adapted — as  the 
experiment  here- 
with pictured  from 
my  own  experience 
many  times  would 
seem  to  verify,  while 
a  honey-bee   intro- 
duced into  the  flow- 
er   failed    to    fulfil 
the  demonstration, 
emerging   at  the  little    doorway  above  without  a 
sign  of  the  cordial  parting  token. 

Occasionally  I  suppose  a  fool  bumblebee  is  en- 
trapped within  the  petal  bower  and  fails  to  find 
the  proper  exit,  or  it  may  be — much  less  a  fool — 
having  run  the  gantlet  once  too  often,  decides  to 
escape  the  ordeal ;  hence  the  occasional  mutilated 
blossom  already  described. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  our  orchids, 
though  its  claims  to  admiration  in  this  instance 
are  chieflv  confined  to  the  foliage,  is  the  common 
"  Rattlesnake  -  Plantain,"  its  prostrate  rosettes  of 
exquisitely  white  reticulated  leaves  carpeting 
many  a  nook  in  the  shadows  of  the  hemlocks,  its 
dense  spikes  of  yellowish -white  blossoms  signal- 
ling their  welcome  to  the  bees,  and  fully  compen- 


214 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


sating  in  interest  what  they  may  lack  in  other  at- 
tractive attributes. 

The  single  flower  is  shown  enlarged  in  Fig.  19 
— A,  a  young  blossom,  with  analyses  B  and  C,  the 
latter  indexed ;  D,  an  older  blossom,  with  similar 
analyses  (E  and  F).  Both  sorts  are  to  be  found 
upon  every  spike  of  bloom,  as  the  inflorescence 
begins  at  the  base  and  proceeds  upward.  As 
we  look  into  the  more  open  flower  we  observe  a 
dark -colored  speck,  which,  by  analysis,  proves  to 
be  the  lid  of  the  anther.  This  portion  is  further 
shown  enlarged  in  Fig.  20,  A.     If  we  gently  lift  it 

with  a  pin,  we  dis- 
close the  pollen 
masses  in  the  cavity 
(B)  thus  opened  (C, 
profile  section),  the 
two  pairs  united  to 
a  common  viscid 
gland  at  the  base, 
this  gland  again  se- 
creted behind  a  veil 
of  moist  membrane, 
as  also  shown  at  B. 
This  membrane  is,  moreover,  very  sensitive  to  the 
touch.  Below  the  flattened  tip  of  the  column,  and 
at  a  sharp  inward  angle,  is  the  stigma.      In  the 


Fig.  18  C 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


215 


freshly  opened  flower  (Fig.  19,  A)  the  column  in- 
clines forward,  bringing  the  anther  low  down,  and 
its  base  directly  opposite  the  V-shaped  orifice  in 
the  lip,  which  also  is  quite  firmly  closed  beneath 
the  equally  converging  upper  hood  of  the  blossom. 


pollen 
masses 


fold  of  sensi- 
tive membrane 
protecting 
gland 


Fig.  19 


The  entrance  is  thus  much  narrowed.  If  we  in- 
sert a  pin  in  this  V-shaped  entrance  it  comes  in 
contact  with  the  sensitive  membrane  below  the 
anther,  and  it  is  immediately  ruptured,  as  shown 
at  Fig.  20,  D.  The  sticky  gland  is  brought  into 
immediate  contact,  and  clasps  the  pin,  which,  now 


2l6 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


being  withdrawn,  brings  away  the  pollen,  as  in  E 
and  F.  Thus  it  is  naturally  removed  on  the 
tongue  of  its  sipping  bee. 

The  further  demonstration  will  be  better  shown 
by  profile  sections  (Fig.  21).     Nectar  is  secreted 


Fie.  21 


in  the  hollow  of  the  lip  indicated,  somewhat  as  in 
the  cypripedium.  If  we  now  imitate  with  a  probe 
the  habit  of  the  insect  and  the  action  of  its 
tongue,  we  may  witness  a  beautiful  contrivance 
for  cross-fertilization.     We  will  suppose  the  bee  to 


A   FEW    NATIVE   ORCHIDS 


217 


be  working  at  the  top  of  the  spike.  He  thrusts 
his  tongue  into  the  narrow  opening  (G).  The 
membrane  protecting  the  pollen-gland,  thus  sure- 
1}^  touched,  ruptures  as  described,  and  the  exposed 
o-Iand  attaches  itself  to  the  tono-ue,  beino-  with- 
drawn    as    at     H,    and     located    on    the    insect's 


anther-lid 


^^Tly'^'^^ 


membrane. 


Fig.  20 


tonofue,  as  in  F,  Fio^.  20.  The  bee  leaves  this 
flower  cluster  and  flies  to  another,  upon  which  it 
will  usually  begin  operation  at  the  bottom.  The 
flower  thus  first  encountered  is  an  old  bloom,  as 
in  Fig.  19,  D.  Its  sepals  are  more  spreading,  the 
lip  slightly  lowered,  and  the  column  so  changed 


2l8 


MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 


as  to  present  the  plane  of  the  stigma,  before  out 
of  sight,  in  such  a  new  position  as  to  invariably 

receive  the  pollen. 
The  tongue  of  a  bee 
entering  this  flower 
conveys  the  pollen 
directly  against  the 
stigmatic  surface  (I), 
which  retains  its  dis- 
entangled fecunda- 


A.   Extended. 


B.   Folded  beneath  the  head. 


ting  grains,  as  at 
J,  and  the  flower's  functional  adaptations  are  ful- 
filled. 

In  the  allied  Spiranthes,  or  "  Lady's-Tresses,"  a 
somewhat  similar  mechanism  prevails,  by  which 
fertilization  is  largely  effected  by  the  changed 
position  or  angle  of  the  stigma  plane. 

And  thus  we  might  proceed  through  all  the 
orchid  genera,  each  new  device,  though  based  upon 
one  of  the  foregoing  plans,  affording  its  new  sur- 
prise in  its  special  modification  in  adaptation  to 
its  insect  sponsor — all  these  various  shapes,  folds 
of  petals,  positions,  colors,  the  size,  length,  and 
thickness  of  nectary,  the  relative  positions  of  pol- 
len and  stigma,  embodying  an  expression  of  wel- 
come to  the  insect  with  which  its  life  is  so  mar- 
vellously   linked.      Occasionally    this    astounding 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS  219 

affinity  is  faithful  to  a  single  species  of  insect, 
which  thus  becomes  the  sole  sponsor  of  the  blos- 
som, without  whose  association  the  orchid  would 
become  extinct.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this 
special  adaptation  is  seen  in  the  great  Angrsecum 
orchid  of  Madagascar,  described  by  Darwin  ;  and 
inasmuch  as  this  species  glorifies  Darwin's  faith 
in  the  truth  of  his  theory,  and  marks  a  notable 
victory  in  the  long  battle  for  its  supremacy,  it  af- 
fords an  inspiring  theme  for  my  closing  para- 
graphs. 

Among  the  host  of  sceptics  —  and  were  they 
not  legion  ? — who  met  this  evolutionary  and  rev- 
olutionary theory  with  incredulity,  not  to  say  ridi- 
cule or  worse,  was  one  who  thus  challenored  its 
author  shortly  after  the  appearance  of  his  "  Fer- 
tilization of  Orchids,"  addressinor  Darwin  from 
Madagascar  substantially  as  follows :  "  Upon  your 
theory  of  evolution  through  natural  selection  all 
the  various  contrasting  structural  features  of  the 
orchids  have  direct  reference  to  some  insect  which 
shall  best  cross-fertilize  them.  If  an  orchid  has  a 
nectary  one  inch  long,  an  insect's  tongue  of  equiv- 
alent length  is  implied ;  a  nectary  six  inches  in 
length  likewise  implies  a  tongue  six  inches  long. 
What  have  you  to  say  in  regard  to  an  orchid 
which  flourishes  here  in  Madagascar  possessing  a 


220  MY   STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

long  nectary  as  slender  as  a  knitting-needle  and 
eleven  inches  in  length  ?  On  your  hypothesis 
there  must  be  a  moth  with  a  tongue  eleven  inch- 
es long,  or  this  nectary  would  never  have  been 
elaborated." 

Darwin's  reply  was  magnificent  in  its  proof  of 
the  sublime  conviction  of  the  truth  of  his  belief: 
"  The  existence  of  an  orchid  wath  a  slender  nec- 
tary eleven  inches  in  length,  and  with  nectar  se- 
creted at  its  tip,  is  a  conclusive  demonstration  of 
the  existence  of  a  moth  with  a  tongue  eleven 
inches  in  length,  even  though  no  snch  moth  is 
knoivny 

Many  of  us  remember  the  ridicule  which  was 
heaped  upon  him  for  this  apparently  blind  ad- 
herence to  an  untenable  theory.  But  victory 
complete  and  demoralizing  to  his  opponents 
awaited  this  oracular  utterance  when  later  a  dis- 
ciple of  Darwin,  led  by  the  same  spirit  of  faith 
and  conviction,  visited  Madagascar,  and  was  soon 
able  to  afhrm  that  he  had  caught  the  moth,  a 
huge  sphinx-moth,  and  that  its  tongue  measured 
eleven  inches  in  length. 

Here  we  see  the  prophecy  of  the  existence  of 
an  unknown  moth,  founded  on  the  form  of  a  blos- 
som. At  that  time  the  moth  had  not  been  actu- 
ally seen   at  work   on   the  orchid,  but  who   shall 


222  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

question  for  a  moment  that  had  the  flower  been 
visited  in  its  twiHght  or  moonlight  haunt  the 
murmur  of  humming  wings  about  the  blossom  s 
throat  would  have  attested  the  presence  of  the 
flowTr's  afflnity,  for  without  the  kiss  of  this  identi- 
cal moth  the  Angraecum  must  become  extinct. 
No  other  moth  can  fulfil  the  conditions  necessary 
to  its  perpetuation.  The  floral  adaptation  is 
such  that  the  moth  must  force  its  large  head  far 
into  the  opening  of  the  blossom  in  order  to  reach 
the  sweets  in  the  long  nectary.  In  so  doing 
the  pollen  becomes  attached  to  the  base  of  the 
tongue,  and  is  withdrawn  as  the  insect  leaves  the 
flower,  and  is  thrust  against  the  stigma  in  the 
next  blossom  visited.  This  was  clearly  demon- 
strated by  Darwin  in  specimens  sent  to  him,  by 
means  of  a  probe  of  the  presumable  length  and 
diameter  of  the  moth's  tong^ue.  Shorter-tons^ued 
moths  would  fail  to  remove  the  pollen,  and  also  to 
reach  the  nectar,  and  would  thus  soon  learn  to 
realize  that  they  were  not  welcome. 

The  Angraecum  also  affords  in  this  long  pen- 
dent nectary  a  most  lucid  illustration  of  the  pres- 
ent workinors   of  natural  selection.     The   normal 

O 

length  of  that  nectary  should  be  about  eleven 
inches,  but  in  fact  this  length  varies  considerably 
in  the  flowers  of  different  plants,  this  tendency  to 


A   FEW   NATIVE   ORCHIDS  223 

variation  in  all  organic  life  being  an  essential  and 
amply  demonstrated  postulate  of  the  entire  theory 
of  natural  selection.  Let  us  suppose  a  flower 
whose  nectary  chances  to  be  only  six  inches  in 
length.  The  moth  visits  this  flower,  but  the  tip 
of  its  tongue  reaches  the  nectar  long  before  it 
can  bring  its  head  into  the  opening  of  the  tube. 
This  being  a  vital  condition,  the  moth  fails  to 
withdraw  the  pollen  ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  pol- 
len is  usually  deposited  close  to  the  head  of  the 
motli,  this  flower  would  receive  no  pollen  upon 
its  stigma.  This  particular  blossom  would  thus 
be  both  barren  and  sterile.  None  of  its  pollen 
would  be  carried  to  other  stigmas,  nor  would  it 
set  a  seed  to  perpetuate  by  inheritance  its  shorter 
nectary. 

Again,  let  us  suppose  the  variation  of  an  extra 
long  nectary,  and  the  writer  recently  saw  a  num- 
ber of  these  orchids  with  nectaries  thirteen  inches 
in  lencrth.  The  moth  comes,  and  now  must  needs 
insert  its  head  to  the  utmost  into  the  opening  of 
the  flower.  This  would  insure  its  fertilization 
by  the  pollen  on  the  insect's  tongue;  and  even 
though  the  ^x^'^^x  failed  to  reach  the  nectar,  the 
pollen  would  be  withdrawn  upon  the  tongue,  to 
be  carried  to  other  flowers,  which  might  thus  be 
expected  to  inherit  from  the  paternal  side  the  ten- 


224  MY    STUDIO    NEIGHBORS 

dency  to  the  longer  nectary.  The  tendency  tow- 
ards the  perpetuation  of  the  short  nectary  is  there- 
fore stopped,  while  that  of  the  longer  nectary  is 
insured. 


THE  MILKH^EED 


The   Milkweed 

THE  singular  hospitality  of  our  milkweed  blos- 
som is  nowhere  matched  among  Flora's  min- 
ions, and  would  seem  occasionally  in  need  of  su- 
pervision. 

Just  outside  the  door  here  at  my  country  stu- 
dio, almost  in  touch  of  its  threshold,  year  after 
year  there  blooms  a  large  clump  of  milkweed 
{Asclepias  cornuta),  and,  what  with  the  fragrance 
of  its  purple  pompons  and  the  murmurous  music 
of  its  bees,  its  fortnight  of  bloom  is  not  permitted 
to  be  forgotten  for  a  moment.  Only  a  moment 
ago  a  whiff  of  more  than  usual  redolence  from 
the  open  window  at  which  I  am  sitting  reminded 
me  that  the  flowers  were  even  now  in  the  heyday 
of  their  prime,  and  the  loud  droning  music  be- 
tokened that  the  bees  were  making  the  most  of 
their  opportunities. 

Yielding  to  the  temptation,  I  was  soon  stand- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  plants.  The  purple  fra- 
grant umbels  of  bloom  hung  close  about  me  on 
all  sides,  each  flower,  with  its  five  generous  horns 


228  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

of  plenty,  drained   over   and    over  again   by  the 
eager  sipping  swarm. 

But  the  July  sun  is  one  thing  to  a  bee  and 
quite  another  thing  to  me.  I  have  lingered  long 
enough,  however,  to  witness  again  the  beautiful 
reciprocity,  and  to  realize  anew,  with  awe  and  rev- 
erence, how  divinely  well  the  milkweed  and  the 
bee  understand  each  other.  After  a  brief  search 
among  the  blossom  clusters  I  return  to  my  seclu- 
sion with  a  few  interesting  specimens,  which  may 
serve  as  a  text  here  at  my  desk  by  the  open 
window. 

Two  months  hence  an  occasional  silky  messen- 
ger will  float  away  from  the  glistening  clouds 
about  the  open  milkweed  pods,  but  who  ever 
thanks  the  bees  of  June  for  them  ?  The  flower  is 
but  a  bright  anticipation — an  expression  of  hope 
in  the  being  of  the  parent  plant.  It  has  but  one 
mission.  All  its  fragrance,  all  its  nectar,  all  its 
beauty  of  form  and  hue  are  but  means  towards 
the  consummation  of  the  eternal  edict  of  creation 
— "  Increase  and  multiply."  To  that  end  we  owe 
all  the  infinite  forms,  designs,  tints,  decorations, 
perfumes,  mechanisms,  and  other  seemingly  inex- 
plicable attributes.  Its  threshold  must  bear  its 
own  peculiar  welcome  to  its  insect,  or  perhaps  to 
its  humming-bird  friend,  or  counterpart;  its  nee- 


THE    MILKWEED  229 

taries  must  both  tempt  and  reward  his  coming, 
and  its  petals  assist  his  comfortable  tarrying. 

Next  to  the  floral  orchids,  the  mechanism  of 
our  milkweed  blossom  is  perhaps  the  most  com- 
plex and  remarkable,  and  illustrates  as  perfectly 
as  any  of  the  orchid  examples  given  in  Darwin's 
noble  work  the  absolute  divine  intention  of  the 
dependence  of  a  plant  species  upon  the  visits  of 
an  insect. 

Our  milkweed  flower  is  a  deeply  planned  con- 
trivance to  insure  such  an  end.  It  fills  the  air 
with  enticing  fragrance.  Its  nectaries  are  stored 
with  sweets,  and  I  fancy  each  opening  bud  keenly 
alert  with  conscious  solicitude  for  its  afflnity. 
Though  many  other  flowers  manage  imperfectly 
to  perpetuate  their  kind  in  the  default  of  insect 
intervention,  the  milkweed,  like  most  of  the  or- 
chids, is  helpless  and  incapable  of  such  resource. 
Inclose  this  budded  umbel  in  tarlatan  orauze  and 
it  will  bloom  days  after  its  fellow -blooms  have 
fallen,  anticipating  its  consummation,  but  no  pods 
will  be  seen  upon  this  cluster. 

What  a  singular  decree  has  Nature  declared 
with  reference  to  the  milkweed !  She  says,  in 
plainest  terms,  "  Your  pollen  must  be  removed  on 
the  leg  of  an  insect,  preferably  a  bee,  or  your  kind 
shall   perish   from  the  face   of   the    earth."     And 


230  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

what  is  the  deep-laid  plan  by  which  this  end  is 
assured  ?  My  specimens  here  on  the  desk  will 
disclose  it  all. 

Here  are  two  bees,  a  fly,  and  a  beetle,  each  hang- 
ing dead  by  its  legs  from  a  flower,  an  extreme 
sacrificial  penalty,  which  is  singularly  frequent 
but  which  was  certainly  not  exacted  nor  con- 
templated in  the  design  of  the  flower.  A  care- 
ful search  among  almost  any  good -sized  cluster 
of  milkweeds  will  show  us  many  such  prisoners. 
As  in  all  flowers,  the  pollen  of  the  milkweed 
blossom  must  come  in  contact  with  its  stigma  be- 
fore fruition  is  possible.  In  this  peculiar  family 
of  plants,  however,  the  pollen  is  distinct  in  char- 
acter, and  closely  suggests  the  orchids  in  its  con- 
sistency and  disposition.  The  yellow  powdery 
substance  with  which  we  are  all  familiar  in  or- 
dinary flowers  is  here  absent,  the  pollen  being 
collected  in  two  club-shaped  or,  more  properly, 
spatula -shaped  masses,  linked  in  pairs  at  their 
slender  prolonged  tips,  each  of  which  terminates 
in  a  sticky  disc -shaped  appendage  united  in  V- 
shape  below.  These  pollen  masses  are  concealed 
in  pockets  (B)  around  the  cylindrical  centre  of  the 
flower,  the  discs  only  being  exposed  at  the  sur- 
face, at  five  equidistant  points  around  its  rim, 
where  they  lie  in  wait  for  the  first  unwary  foot 


»    3      v/ 


232  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

that  shall  touch  them.  A  glance  at  the  two 
views  of  this  central  portion  of  the  flower,  as  it 
appears  through  my  magnifying-glass — the  honey- 
horns  and  sepals  having  been  removed — will,  I 
think,  indicate  its  peculiar  anatomy  or  mechan- 
ism.    No  stiorma  is  to  be  seen  in  the  flower,  the 

stigmatic    surface 
which    is    to    receive 
the  pollen  being  con- 
cealed within  five com- 
partments,   each    of 
which  is  protected  by 
a  raised  tent-like  cov- 
ering, cleft   along   its 
entire  apex  by  a  fine 
fissure    (A).      Outside 
of  each   of  these,  and 
entirely  separated  from  the  stigma  in  the  cav- 
ity, lie  the  pollen  masses  within  their  pockets, 
each  pair  uniting  at  the  rim  below  in  V-shape,  the 
union  at  the  lower  limit  of  the  fissure. 

With  this  more  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
floral  anatomy,  let  us  now  visit  our  milkweed- 
plant  and  observe  closely. 

A  bee  alights  upon  the  flower — the  object  of 
its  visit  being,  of  course,  the  sweets  located  in  the 
five    horn -shaped    nectaries.     In    order   to   reach 


THE  milkwp:ed  233 

this  nectar  the  insect  must  hang  to  the  bulky 
blossom.  Instantly,  and  almost  of  necessity,  it 
would  seem,  one  or  more  of  the  feet  are  seen  to 
enter  the  upper  opening  of  the  fissure,  and  during 
the  insects  movements  are  drawn  through  to  the 
base.  The  foot  is  thus  conducted  directly  be- 
tween the  two  viscid  discs,  which  immediately 
cling  closer  than  a  brother,  and  as  the  foot  is  final- 
ly withdrawn,  the  pollen  is  pulled  from  its  cell. 
The  member  now  released  seeks  a  fresh  hold,  and 
the  same  result  follows,  the  leg  almost  inevitably 
entering  the  fissure,  and  this  time  drawing  in  the 
pollen  directly  against  the  sticky  stigmatic  sur- 
face within.  The  five  honey -horns  have  now 
been  drained,  and  as  our  bee  leaves  the  flower  he 
is  plainly  detained  by  this  too  hearty  "shake"  or 
"grip"  of  his  host,  and  quite  commonly  must 
exert  a  slight  struggle  to  free  himself.  As  the 
foot  is  thus  forcibly  torn  away,  the  pollen  mass  is 
commonly  scraped  entirely  off  and  retained  with- 
in the  fissure,  or  perhaps  parts  at  the  stalk,  leav- 
ing the  terminal  disc  clinging  on  the  insect's  leg. 
Occasionally,  when  more  than  one  leg  is  entangled, 
the  dangling  blossom  is  tossed  and  swayed  for  sev- 
eral seconds  by  the  vigorous  pulling  and  buzzing, 
and  a  number  of  these  temporary  captives  upon 
a  single  milkweed-plant  are  always  to  be  seen. 


234  MY   STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

Not  unfrequently  the  mechanism  so  well  adapt- 
ed exceeds  its  functions  and  proves  a  veritable 
trap,  as  indicated  in  my  specimens.  I  have  found 
three  dead  bees  thus  entrapped  in  a  single  umbel 
of  blossoms,  having  been  exhausted  in  their  strug- 
gles for  escape ;  and  a  search  among  the  flowers 
at  any  time  will  show  the  frequency  of  this  fatal- 
ity, the  victims  including  gnats,  flies,  crane  -  flies, 
bugs,  wasps,  beetles,  and  small  butterflies.  In 
every  instance  this  prisoner  is  found  dangling  by 
one  or  more  legs,  with  the  feet  firmly  held  in  the 
grip  of  the  fissure. 

Almost  any  bee  which  we  may  catch  at  random 
upon  a  milkweed  gives  perfect  evidence  of  his 
surroundings,  its  toes  being  decorated  with  the 
tiny  yellow  tags,  each  successive  flower  giving 
and  taking,  exchanging  compliments,  as  it  were, 
with  his  fellows.  Ordinarily  this  fringe  can  hard- 
ly prove  more  than  an  embarrassment ;  but  we 
may  frequently  discern  an  individual  here  and 
there  which  for  some  reason  has  received  more 
than  his  share  of  the  milkweed's  compliments. 
His  legs  are  conspicuously  fringed  with  the  yel- 
low tags.  He  rests  with  a  discouraged  air  upon 
a  neighboring  leaf,  while  honey,  and  even  wings, 
are  seemingly  forgotten  in  his  efforts  to  scrape 
off  the  cumbersome  handicap. 


THE    MILKWEED 


235 


An  interesting  incident,  apropos  of  oLir  embar- 
rassed bee,  was  narrated  to  me  by  the  late  Al- 
phonso  Wood,  the  noted  botanist.  He  had 
received  by  mail  from  California  a  small  box  con- 
taining- a  hundred  or  more  dead  bees,  accompa- 
nied by  a  letter.  The  writer,  an  old  bee-keeper, 
had    experience,  and    desired   enliorhtenment   and 


advice.       The    letter 

stated    that   his   bees 

were  "  dying  by  thou- 

sands   from    the    at- 

M^ 

tacks    of    a    peculiar 

^^m| 

fungus."  The  ground 

/ /^f?f%,.  -. 

around  the  hive  was 

m^^^ 

H 

littered  with  the  vic- 

l^^^H 

i 

tims  in  all  stages  of 

^^i^^ 

helplessness,  and  the 

■;5^^ 

^ 

dead    insects    were 

'"^p^ 

^: 

found  everywhere  at 

■/ 

m 

greater  distances  scat- 
tered around  his  premises.  It  needed  only  a 
casual  glance  at  the  encumbered  insects  to  see 
the  nature  of  the  malady.  They  were  laden 
two  or  three  pairs  deep,  as  it  were,  with  the 
pollen  masses  of  a  milkweed.  The  botanist  wrote 
immediately  to  his  anxious  correspondent,  in- 
forming   him,  and   suggesting   as    a    remedy    the 


236  MY    STUDIO   NEIGHBORS 

discovery  and  destruction  of  the  mischievous 
plants,  which  must  be  thriving  somewhere  in 
his  neighborhood.  A  subsequent  letter  conveyed 
the  thanks  of  the  bee  -  keeper,  stating  that  the 
milkweeds  —  a  whole  field  of  them  —  had  been 
found  and  destroyed,  and  the  trouble  had  imme- 
diately ceased.  I  am  not  aware  that  Mr.  Wood 
ever  ascertained  the  particular  species  of  milk- 
weed in  this  case.  It  is  not  probable  that  our 
Eastern  species  need  ever  seriously  threaten  the 
apiary,  though  unquestionably  large  numbers  of 
bees  are  annually  destroyed  by  its  excessive  hos- 
pitality. I  have  repeatedly  found  honey  -  bees 
dead  beneath  the  plants,  and  my  cabinet  shows  a 
specimen  of  a  large  bumblebee  which  had  suc- 
cumbed to  its  pollen  burden,  its  feet,  and  even  the 
hairs  upon  its  body,  being  fringed  deep  with  the 
tiny  clubs  —  one  of  the  many  specimens  which  I 
have  discovered  as  the  "  o-Hst  in  the  mill "  of  that 
wise  spider  which  usually  spreads  his  catch-all  be- 
neath the  milkweeds. 

Allied  to  the  milkweed  is  another  plant,  the 
dogbane  {Apocymcm),  which  has  a  similar  trick  of 
entrapping  its  insect  friends.  Its  drooping,  fra- 
grant, bell-shaped  white  flowers  and  long  slender 
pods  will   help   to   recall   it.     But   its   method  of 


THE    MILKWEED 


237 


capture  is  somewhat  similar  to  the  milkweed. 
The  anthers  are  divided  by  a  V-shaped  cavity, 
into  which  the  insect's  tongue  is  guided  as  it  is 
withdrawn  from  the  flower,  and  into  which  it 
often  becomes  so  tightly  wedged  as  to  render  es- 
cape impossible.  I  have  found  small  moths  dan- 
gling by  the  tongue,  as  seen  in  the  illustration 
below. 


-  '"'^'•■^'^-'v'-^  T  IJC?  ^  IT  ^       i 


Agalena,  house-spider,  7. 

Alypia,  grape-vine-moth,  160. 

Andromeda  (.-/.  li^iistrina).  singular 
greeting  to  the  bee,  126;  interior 
arrangement  of  flower,  128  ;  re- 
lease of  the  pollen,  129. 

AngrjBCum,  orchid  of  Madagascar, 
with  nectary  eleven  inches  long, 
219. 

Ants,  herding  the  aphides,  166  ;  a 
model  honey-farm,  167. 

"  Ant-holes,"  61. 

Aphides,  plant-lice,  founders  of  the 
feast,  165;  herded  by  ants,  167. 

Apocynum,  dogbane,  236. 

Aprophora,  spume-bearer,  82. 

Arethusa  bulbosa,  orchid,  175. 

Argiope,  field  spider,  8. 

Aristolochias,  119. 

Aristotle,  23. 

Arum,  wild  : — Position  of  the  an- 
thers, 141  ;  progressive  stages  of 
change,  142. 

Aschpias  corniita,  milkweed,  227. 

Asilits,  "  robber-fl)',"  8. 

Axell,  a  follower  of  Darwin,  116. 


Bees: — The  drone  of,  5;  a  counter- 
part of  clover  ;  dependence  of 
clover  on,  117;  manner  of  ap- 
proach, 121;  black-and-white 
banded,  126  ;  approach  to  the 
blue -flag,  131  ;  experiment  with 
the  bumblebee,  209 ;  his  escape 
from  the  flower,  210  ;  manner  of 
cross-fertilizing,  212;  manner  of 
conveying  the  pollen,  218;  his  dif- 
ficulties with  the  milkweed  flower, 

233  ;    the   cumbersome   handicap, 

234  ;  destroyed  by  the  milkweed, 

235- 

Beetles  {Cicindela),  tiger,  68. 

Birds: — Swifts,  5  ;  robin,  5  ;  vireo,  5, 
45  ;  indigo,  5  ;  chat,  5,  40  ;  oriole, 
5,  32;  red  -  headed  chippy;  barn- 
swallow,  6,  2S,  39,  40  ;  cuckoo, 23; 
' '  kow  -  bird  " ;  cow  black  -  bird  ; 
bunting,  27;  song  -  sparrow,  30, 
40;  Maryland  yellow  -  throat,  28, 
45;  Wilson's  thrush  ;  chewink,32; 
fly-catcher;  bluebird;  oven-bird; 
cat  -  bird  ;  phcebe,  40  ;  bobolink; 
"reed-bird,"  53  ;  humming,  227. 


240 


INDEX 


Birds'  nests: — Flimsy  structure  of 
the  cuckoo's,  26  ;  song-sparrow's, 
30  ;  oriole's  swinging  hammock  ; 
cobweb  structure  of  the  vireo's, 
32  ;  size  of  yellou- -bird's  ;  sum- 
mer yellow-bird's  beautiful  home, 
47;  a  four -story  house,  a  pos- 
sible fashion  in  featherdom, 
51  ;    pipit's,   35  ;    wood-sparrow's, 

37- 
Bit  tersweet  (  Celaslrus  scandens ), 
queer  little  harlequins  on,  g  ;  its 
scarlet-coated  seeds,  88. 

Blackburn,  Mrs.,  quoted,  35. 

Blair,  Patrick,  his  claims  concerning 
pollen,  III. 

Blossom  ceremonies,  iig. 

Blue-flag,  its  hidden  anthers  reached 
only  by  the  bumblebee  or  large 
i^y,  I2g  ;  manner  of  the  bee's  ap- 
proach, 131. 

Burroughs  on  wren-building,  17. 

Butterflies : — Great  yellow  swallow- 
tail {Papilio  twuns);  red  admiral 
{Pyrameis  Atlanta);  small  yellow 
{Phi/odice):  semicolon  {Grapta  in- 
terrogationis  )  ;  comma  (  Vanessa 
comma),  153  ;  orange;  white  {Aph- 
rodite), 154  ;  white  cabbage  {Pon- 
tia  o/eraeea),  153. 

Cactus,    prickly  -  pear,    its    golden 

bower,  11 8. 
Collinsonia,  horse-balm,  136. 
Caterpillars,  10,  14,  15,  62. 
Celastrus  scandens,  bittersweet,  88, 
ChatnccUrium     hitcniu,    devil's  -  bit, 

133- 
Chipmonk,  6. 
Cicada,  victim  of  the  sand -hornet, 

77;  manner  of  depositing  its  eggs; 


period  of  transformation,  g7;  time 
of  hatching,  100. 

Cicindela,  tiger-beetle,  68. 

Clover,  cause  of  failure  of  crop  in 
Australia,  117. 

Cobwebs: — A  dusty  prize;  a  two 
year's  span,  7  ;  a  mixed  assort- 
ment in,  8. 

Cone-fiower  {Ritdheckia  kirta),  138  ; 
embryo  seeds ;  arrangement  of 
the  anthers,  I3g 

Cow  black -bird.  27;  his  favorite 
]ierch  ;  old  dame's  theory,  28  ;  an 
unwelcome  intruder,  30  ;  a  prowl- 
ing foe,  31. 

Cow- bird: — Ravenous  young  p.nra- 
site,  31  ;  a  clamoring  lubber,  37  ; 
"  Black  Douglas"  of  the  bird- 
home,  38  ;  selected  victims,  3g  ; 
distribution  of  its  eggs  ;  vicious 
habits,  40;  egg- laying  intervals; 
demoralizing  conditions  ;  Ameri- 
can species  an  improvement,  41'; 
survival  of  the  fittest,  42;  balance 
of  power,  44  ;  outwitted,  51  ; 
massing  for  migration,  52. 

"  Cow-spit,"  80. 

Cross  -  fertilization,  115,  122,  178, 
iSg,  ig4. 

"Cuckoo-spit,"  80. 

Cuckoos:  —  Poetic  misnomer,  23; 
outrage  on  maternal  affection  ; 
yellow-billed;  black  -  billed  ;  im- 
agination versus  facts,  25  ;  bad 
workmanship  of  nest,  26  ;  its 
stammering  cry,  27  ;  manner  of 
depositing  its  eggs  ;  handling  the 
egg  with  her  bill,  33;  short  period 
of  incubation  ;  voracious  appetite 
of  the  young  ;  aggressive  selfish- 
ness, 34;  the  tragedy  of  the  nest. 


INDEX 


241 


35  ;    manner    of    (lispo>iii|;   of   its 
nest-mates,  36. 
Cypripediuin  acaiiL-,  moccasin-flow- 
er ;    ladies'- slipper  ;   \"enus's-slip- 
per,  205. 

Darwin  :  —  Process  of  anatomical 
evolution,  35 ;  theory  of  cross-fer- 
tilization, 105  ;  inspired  insight, 
115;  his  disciples,  116;  experi- 
ments with  pollen,  126;  weakness 
of  self  -  fertilizing  flowers,  144  ; 
triumphant  revelation,  171  ;  re- 
affirming Sprengel's  theory,  178  ; 
a  chosen  interpreter,  181  ;  de- 
pendence on  insects,  1S3  ;  reveal- 
ing the  hidden  treasure,  185  ;  fore- 
telling the  manner  of  cross-fertili- 
zation, i8g ;  description  of  the 
cross  -  fertilization,  2og  ;  bees  as 
implied  fertilizers,  212  ;  truth  of 
his  belief,  220. 

Darning-needle,  dragon-fly  {Libcllit- 
lidcv),  156  ;  his  dainty  morsel,  160. 

Delpino,  a  follower  of  Darwin,  116. 

Desmodiitin,  its  hospitable  welcome, 
118. 

Devil's-bit    {Chanmlirhun   hiteiiiii), 

133- 

Digger  wasp,  its  color  and  wire- 
like M'aist,  72 ;  manner  of  work- 
ing, 74;  covering  its  tracks;  open- 
ing the  tomb,  76;  living  food  for 
the  young  grub,  77  ;  its  remark- 
able carrying  power,  78. 

Dogbane  (^Apocymini),  its  fragrant, 
bell-shaped  flowers,  236;  trapj)ing 
moths,  237. 

Dogwood,  5. 

Door-Step  Neighbors : — Chronicle  of 
a  day,  58  ;  disappearing  holes,  59  ; 
16 


"  ant-holes";  a  danger  signal ;  an 
unhealthy  court,  61;  a  transfor- 
mation, 62 ;  an  experiment;  meth- 
od of  excavation,  63  ;  a  stalwart 
worker,  64  ;  an  uncouth  nonde- 
script; spider-like  legs,  66  ;  crawls 
on  his  back,  67  ;  a  tiny  black  wasp; 
a  spider- catcher,  69;  resting  on 
her  wings;  inspecting  her  burrow, 
70;  manner  of  burying  her  prey; 
skilful  workmanship,  71  ;  a  new- 
comer; her  wire-like  waist ;  digging 
lier  tunnel,  72  ;  manner  of  work- 
ing; sound  of  labor,  74  ;  covering 
her  tracks;  opening  the  tomb,  76  ; 
fresh  living  food,  77  ;  carrying  sev- 
en times  its  weight;  peculiar  feat- 
ures of  stone -piling,  78  ;  color  of 
the  wasp,  79  ;  the  spume-bearer, 
81  ;  nomadic  blossoms  ;  a  sack 
bearer,  S3  ;  winter  quarters,  84. 

Ei'ElRA,  field  spider,  8. 
Epiphytes,  air-plants,  iSi. 
Evening  primrose,  its  golden  neck- 
lace, 118. 

"Fertilization    of    Flowers," 

1x6;  wrong  theory,  114. 
Fertilization  of  orchids,  105,  183. 
Flies  :  —  Robber,  8  ;  bluebottle,  8  ; 

harvest  ichneumon,  45,  77,  g6. 
Foxes,  wild  gambols  of,  6. 
Froghopper.        See    Spume  -  bearer 

(Aprophofa),  82. 

Gartner,  recognizing  the  theory  of 

cross-fertilization,  115. 
Genesta,    its    reception    of    insects, 

118. 
Geranium,  wild(G'.  sylvaticuni).  112. 


242 


INDEX 


Gilbert,   concerning   cuckoo's    eggs, 

25- 

"  Gobs,"  80. 

Gray,  Asa  :  —  Demonstration  con- 
cerning orchids,  184;  surmise  con- 
cerning the  withdrawal  of  pollen, 
188  ;  orchid  structure,  190. 

Grew,  Nehemias,  discovery  concern- 
ing pollen,  no;  discoveries  about 
pollen,  113  ;  first  step  in  progress, 
116. 

Habenaria  flava  : — Yellow-spik- 
ed, 203  ;  H.  lacera,  ragged,  200  ; 
H.  07'bicularis,  showy,  194,  199  ; 
H.  psycodes,  purple  -  fringed,  200  ; 
H.  masciila,  189. 

Heath,  its  distinguishing  character- 
istics, 123. 

Honiptera,  Inigs  with  sucking  beaks, 
81. 

Herbert  : — A  follower  of  Sprengel, 
108  ;  recognizing  the  principle  of 
cross-fertilization,  115. 

"  Honey -dew  Picnic": — Gathering 
of  the  clans,  153  ;  a  selected  spot, 
154;  a  motley  assemblage,  155; 
an  outlaw,  157  ;  a  finish  fight, 
1 58  ;  funeral  baked  meats,  164  ; 
gathering  his  grist;  the  founder  of 
the  feast,  158. 

Honey -guides,  112,  129. 

Hornets  : — Its  heavy  load,  9  ;  on  the 
watch,  15  ;  "solitary,"  17  ;  queer 
home  of,  18  ;  great  sand,  77 ; 
black  paper,  161. 

Horse-balm  (Collinsonia),  its  singu- 
lar shape,  1:36  ;  manner  of  bee's 
approach  to,  138. 

Huber  : — On  insect  slavery,  151  ;  on 
the  cultivation  of  the  aphides,  166. 


Insect  Fertilization,  115. 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit,   detaining   its 

guests,  119. 
Jardine,    Sir    William,     concerning 

cuckoo's  eggs,  32. 
Jenner,  Dr.,   habits    of    the    young 

cuckoo,  35. 

Knight,  Andrew  : — On  the  divi- 
nation of  flowers,  108  ;  tJieory  of 
cross-fertilization,  115. 

Kohlreuter :  —  Recognizing  Spren- 
gel's  principles,  108  ;  a  botanical 
pioneer,  115. 

Krunitz,  on  flower  honey,  in. 

Labiates,  flowers  with  lips,  122. 

Ladies'-tresses  {Spiranthes),  218. 

Larva  : — Hornet,  16  ;  "  puss-moth," 
76  ;  psychid,  83. 

Linnaeus  :  —  Settling  the  theory  of 
fertilization,  no;  puzzled  as  to  the 
function  of  honey,  in  ;  a  second 
step,  116  ;  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  orchid,  173. 

Logan,  concerning  the  cuckoo,  23. 

Lubbock  :  —  On  the  divination  of 
flowers,  108  ;  follower  of  Darwin, 
116  ;  on  the  cultivation  of  aphides, 
166. 

Martial  Spirit  of  Vespa,  19. 

]\[embracis  hinotata,  insect  with  a 
sharp  beak,  a  tree-hopper,  91. 

Milkweed  : — Its  matchless  hospital- 
ity; purple  pompons;  its  five  horns, 
227  ;  its  one  mission  ;  the  hum- 
ming-bird its  friend,  228  ;  complex 
mechanism  ;  enticing  fragrance  ; 
removal  of  pollen  on  insects'  legs. 


INDEX 


H3 


229  ;  four  captives,  230  ;  its  honey 
trap;  its  tenacious  grip,  233;  an 
assortment  of  victims ;  cumber- 
some handicap,  234  ;  a  wholesale 
destroyer,  235. 

Mint  family,  122. 

I\fiiio-ti/tida:,  summer  yellow  -  bird, 
47- 

Moccasin-flower  {Cypripcdiuin  acau- 
le),  205. 

Moths: — Twilight;  sphinx,  118,  190, 
220;  grape-vine,  160. 

Mountain  laurel  : — Showers  of  pol- 
len of ;  curious  construction  of 
t^ower  of  ;  withers  if  Ijrought  in- 
doors, 124  ;  character  of  the  pol- 
len, 125. 

Mouse,  motley  collection  of  food  of ; 
mischief  of,  7. 

Mailer,  Hermann  : — On  the  divina- 
tion of  flowers,  108  ;  on  defective 
observation,  114  ;  the  relations  be- 
tween the  flower  and  insect,  116  ; 
on  fertilization,  142. 

Nature's  Equilibrium,  39. 
Natural  observation,  57. 
Nomadic  blossoms,  83. 

Orchids  : — Dependence  on  insects, 
144;  strange  mechanical  adapta- 
tion ;  sweet  -  pogonia  ;  perfume 
suggesting  raspberries,  145  ;  in- 
tention of  the  blossom,  146;  adap- 
tation for  insects,  147  ;  its  frag- 
rance a  perfumed  whisper  of  wel- 
come, 148;  a  contrast,  172;  form 
of  invitation,  173;  insect  comple- 
ment, 174  ;  Arethusa  bulbosa, 
175  ;  theories  concerning  the  con- 
veyance  of   the   pollen,  176;    the 


most  highly  specialized  form  of 
flowers,  180;  distinguished  by  its 
structure  ;  American  varieties  not 
air-plants  ;  form  of  flower,  181  ; 
elasticity  of  the  pollen  of  the 
Spectabilis,  182;  self  -  fertilizing, 
183;  American  and  exotic  species, 
184;  Arethusa's  fragrance,  1S5  ; 
its  structure,  186  ;  significant 
depth  of  nectar  wells;  conditions 
demanded  of  insects,  187;  Gray's 
surmise,  188;  sphinx  -  moth  its 
only  complement,  igo;  manner  of 
carrying  the  pollen  by  sphinx- 
moth,  193  ;  extracting  the  pollen 
with  a  pencil  ;  length  of  the  nec- 
tary, 196  ;  purple  -  fringed,  198  ; 
ragged,  200 ;  very  exceptional 
provision,  201;  yellow  -  spiked, 
203  ;  moccasin  -  flower  ;  ladies'- 
slipper;  Venus's-slipper;  the  color 
of,  205  ;  distinctive  character  of, 
206  ;  practical  experiment,  209  ; 
imprisonment  of  the  bee ;  manner 
of  its  release,  210 ;  rattlesnake- 
plantain,  213;  Angrsecum,  its  long 
nectary,  2ig  ;  tongue  of  a  sphinx- 
moth  eleven  inches  long,  220 ; 
nectary  thirteen  inches  long,  223. 

"  Origin  of  Species  ": — First  import- 
ant presentation  of  the  theory  of 
cross-fertilization,  105  ;  tardy  ap- 
preciation of  the  work,  115. 

Odynerits  Jlavipes,  wren-wasp,  10. 

Ovid,  concerning  hornets,  18. 

Parallels  in  Nature,  152. 
Platanthera,  orchid  group,  192. 
Pliny,  23. 

Pogouia  ophioglossoides,  sweet  -  po- 
gonia, 145. 


244 


INDEX 


Polistes,  brown  wasp,  t6i. 

Primrose,  evening,  ii8. 

Psychid  : — A  sack-bearer  ;  drags  its 
house  with  it;  feeds  on  seed-pods, 
83;  winter  quarters  of  silk,  84. 

Queer  Little  Family  :  —  Tree- 
hopper  (  Membracis  binotata  ) ;  a 
singular  entertainment  ;  graceful 
curves,  87;  a  branch  in  masquer- 
ade ;  queer  thorns,  8S  ;  a  sudden 
disappearance  ;  animated  thorns  ; 
like  a  covey  of  quails,  89  ;  like 
"Bob  White,"  90;  singular  agil- 
ity; queer  anatomy;  always  ready 
for  flight,  91;  fondness  for  locust 
and  oak-trees,  simulating  the  color 
and  character  of  the  branches,  92 ; 
manner  of  sitting  on  the  branches, 
93 ;  always  headed  towards  the 
top;  tiny  tufts  of  cotton,  94;  color 
and  size  of  the  tufts;  a  mere  frothy 
shell ;  a  riddle,  95  ;  its  relations, 
96;  an  investigation,  97;  its  tech- 
nique, 98  ;  aerated  cement ;  froth- 
house  builder,  99;  period  of  hatch- 
ing, 100  ;  a  house  for  the  winter  ; 
not  a  wanderer,  loi. 

Ragged  Orchid  (//.  lacera),  200. 
"  Rattlesnake-plantain,"  213. 
Riidbeckia  hirta,  cone-flower,  138. 

Sage  {Salvia  officinalis),  strange 
curved  stamen,  119  ;  nature's  ar- 
rangement, 112. 

Salvia,  its  welcome  to  the  bee,  117. 

Self-fertilization,  141. 

Sheep-spit,  80. 

Showy  orchid  {H.  orbicularis),  194. 

Snorting  war-horse,  18. 


Solitude,  the  pleasures  of,  3. 

"  Solomon's  ant,"  152. 

Spcctabilis,  orchid,  182  ;  its  favorite 
haunt,  195. 

Spiders,  agalena,  epeira,  argiope,  8  ; 
a  two  years'  span,  7  ;  a  silken  vor- 
tex ;  miscellaneous  food,  8. 

Spirant hes,  "  Lady's-tresses,"  218. 

Sprengel,  Christian  Conrad:  —  In- 
spiration from  the  wild  geranium, 
108  ;  on  the  mystery  of  color,  112; 
theory  of  fertilization  ;  a  poser  to 
Linnceus,  113  ;  his  wrong  theory, 
114  ;  divining  half  the  truth,  176  ; 
assumption  disproved,  178. 

Spume-bearer  (^Apj-ophora),  its  dom- 
icile of  suds  ;  wonderful  power  of 
jumping,  82. 

Starling  ; ,  dispossessing  woodpecker 
from  nest,  43. 

Studio  Company  :  —  "  Tumultuous 
privacy";  contested  territory; 
snickering  squirrels,  4  ;  selected 
food  ;  unsymmetrical  carpentry  ; 
drone  of  bees ;  carol  of  birds  ; 
flurry  of  swifts  ;  accompaniments 
to  my  toil,  5  ;  wild  fox  ;  pet  chip- 
monk  ;  pet  toad ;  his  lightning 
tongue  ;  home  in  a  bowl,  6  ;  an 
old  friend,  9. 

Summer  yellow-bird  {Mnio-tiltida), 

47- 
Sweet-pogonia   {P.    ophioglossoides), 

145- 
Swift,  Jonathan,  on  parasites.  44. 

Tennyson,  quoted,  24. 

"The  Secrets  of  Nature  in  Forms 
and  Fertilization  of  Flowers 
Discovered,"  Sprengel's  work, 
113- 


INDEX 


245 


Thevenot,  concerning   the   thrift   of 

insects,  152. 
Tiger-beetle  {Cicindela),  68. 
Toads,  6. 
Toad-spit,  80. 
Tree-hopper,  93. 

Venus's  -  SLli'i'EK     (  Cypripediuiii 

acaulti),  205. 
Vireo,  abandons  its  nest,  45. 

Wasps:  —  Wren,  10;  microscopic, 
45  ;  tiny  black,  6g  ;  digger,  72, 
162;  orange-spotted,  79;  brown; 
mud,  161. 

"Waxwork"  bittersweet  (Ct'Iastrus 
scandens),  88. 

Welcome  of  the  flowers : — The  func- 
tion of  the  stamen,  106;  difference 
in  cells,  107  ;  condition  of  the 
fiower,  108  ;  physiological  feat- 
ures; recognition  of  sex  in  flowers, 
109;  exchange  of  courtesies;  each 
fiower  a  law  unto  itself,  117  ; 
action  of  ' '  jack  -  in  -  the  -  pulpit  " ; 
cypripedium  and  aristolochias  ; 
peculiarity  of  the  sage,  119;  queer 
stamens  ;  nature's  arrangement, 
121;  cross  -  fertilization  insured, 
122  ;  showers  of  laurel  pollen  ; 
curious    construction    of    flower. 


124;  singular  greeting  to  the  bee, 
126;  remarkable  interior  arrange- 
ment of  the  Andromeda,  128 ; 
hidden  anthers  of  the  blue  -  flag, 
129;  intercommunication  and  re- 
ciprocity, 135. 

Wild  geranium  (  G.  sylvaticum ), 
112. 

Wild  volapiik,  4. 

Wilson,  cow-bird's  eggs,  33. 

Wind  as  a  fertilizing  agent,  154. 

White,  Gilbert,  cuckoo's  eggs,  32  ; 
rich  localities,  58. 

Wood,  Alphonso  :  —  On  tubercles, 
203  ;  on  embarrassed  bees,  235. 

Woodchucks,  5. 

Wren -wasp  {Odynerus  Jlavipes)\ — 
A  cumbersome  prize,  10 ;  select- 
ing a  home  ;  way  stations  ;  a  sec- 
ond instalment,  11  ;  very  familiar, 
12  ;  a  well-stocked  home,  13  ;  im- 
potent anaesthetic,  14  ;  manner  of 
catching  her  prey  ;  a  hypodermic 
injection,  15  ;  food  on  storage  ; 
closing  the  cell  after  depositing 
egg,  16  ;  living  food  ;  preference 
for  ready  -  made  houses  ;  resem- 
blance to  the  yellow-jacket,  17. 

Zenarchus,  concerning  the  cicada, 
96. 


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